The sky around IC 1408 at true scale, north up and east left, with stars to magnitude 8 and the NGC and IC objects in the field. The circles show the field of a low-power eyepiece and of 10×50 binoculars.
IC 1408 is a lenticular galaxy in Capricornus, 165 million light-years away
IC 1408 is a lenticular galaxy in the constellation Capricornus, 165 million light-years away. It shines at magnitude 14.0 and spans 1′ × 30″ of sky, about 48,000 light-years across. It is faint: a 10-inch or larger telescope, or a camera, and it is highest in the evening sky in October.
Galaxy: a system of billions of stars, gas and dust held together by gravity, far outside the Milky Way. Spiral galaxies have a disk with arms; elliptical galaxies are smooth, round or oval swarms of older stars.
Finding IC 1408 from Deneb Algedi
IC 1408 lies 3.1° northeast of Deneb Algedi, the magnitude 2.9 star. Three fingers held at arm's length cover about 5°.
IC 1408 is highest in the evening in October
The chart gives its height above the horizon at 9 pm through the year, from 60°N to 40°S. It can be seen from the whole southern hemisphere and north to about 77°N, and never sets south of 77°S.
IC 1408 is 165 million light-years away
The light seen from IC 1408 tonight left it about 165 million years ago, long before modern humans existed. Distance source: Cosmicflows-4 (Tully et al. 2023).
Objects within 6° of IC 1408
24 NGC and IC objects lie within 6°. The nearest that are brighter than magnitude 12.5 or have their own page:
