NASA/ ESA’s Hubble Space Telescope recently captured four spiral galaxies that are further apart than you may think. At first glance, you can see NGC 1356 on the right side being flanked by two smaller spiral galaxies LEDA 467699 (above) and LEDA 95415 (left) respectively, while IC 1947 sits along the left side of the image.
Looks can deceive though, as NGC 1356 and LEDA 95415 are actually 300 million light-years apart. On the other hand, NGC 1356 and IC 1947 look to be separated by a large distance due to their angular appearance, but are actually less than 400,000 light-years apart. Images like this one only provide a two-dimensional view and cannot represent the true distance objects are from Earth.
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On the other hand, whilst NGC 1356 and IC 1947 seem to be separated by a relative gulf in this image, IC 1947 is only about 500 million light-years from Earth. The angular distance apparent between them in this image only works out to less than four hundred thousand light-years, so they are actually much much closer neighbours in three-dimensional space than NGC 1356 and LEDA 95415!,” said the ESA.
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