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Galaxy · Elliptical

NGC 6623 NED02

NGC 6623 NED02 is a galaxy in the direction of the constellation Hercules, 195.0 million light-years away.

TypeElliptical
ConstellationHercules
Distance195.0 million light-years (59.79 Mpc)
Diameter97,400 light-years · 1.1 × the Milky Way
Absolute magnitudemagnitude −21.51
Apparent magnitudemagnitude 12.37
Luminosity1.8 × the Milky Way
Right ascension (J2000)18h 19m 42.9s
Declination (J2000)+23° 42′ 35″
Source2MASS Redshift Survey (Huchra et al. 2012)

In the sky

A telescope is needed to see it: its apparent magnitude is 12.37. Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 66° S. North of latitude 66° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in June, the best time to observe it.

Through a telescope from Earth

Light's journey

The light you see tonight set out 195 million years ago. At that time dinosaurs ruled the Earth. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 3,459.3 billion years.

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