The sky around IC 2469 at true scale, north up and east left, with stars to magnitude 8. The circles show the field of a low-power eyepiece and of 10×50 binoculars.
IC 2469 is a barred spiral galaxy (SBab) in Pyxis, 78 million light-years away
IC 2469 (ESO 433-017, PGC 26561) is a barred spiral galaxy (SBab) in the constellation Pyxis, 78 million light-years away. It shines at magnitude 11.1 and spans 5.8′ × 1.2′ of sky, about 131,600 light-years across. It is a telescope object, 6 inches or larger, and it is highest in the evening sky in March.
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 2469 from ψ Vel
IC 2469 lies 8.2° north of ψ Vel, the magnitude 3.6 star. A fist held at arm's length covers about 10°.
IC 2469 is highest in the evening in March
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 58°N, and never sets south of 58°S.
IC 2469 is 78 million light-years away
The light seen from IC 2469 tonight left it about 78 million years ago, long before modern humans existed. It ranks 171 of 422 by distance among the galaxies on Go Astronomy. Distance source: Cosmicflows-4 (Tully et al. 2023), Tully-Fisher.
Objects within 6° of IC 2469
No other Messier, Caldwell or Herschel 400 object lies within 6°.
