The sky around NGC 7020 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.
NGC 7020 is a ring galaxy (S0-a) in Pavo, 140 million light-years away
NGC 7020 (ESO 107-013, PGC 66291) is a ring galaxy (S0-a) in the constellation Pavo, 140 million light-years away. It shines at magnitude 11.7 and spans 4.1′ × 1.7′ of sky, about 167,300 light-years across. It is a telescope object, 6 inches or larger, and it is highest in the evening sky in September.
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 NGC 7020 from β Pav
NGC 7020 lies 3.5° northeast of β Pav, the magnitude 3.4 star. Three fingers held at arm's length cover about 5°.
NGC 7020 is highest in the evening in September
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 26°N, and never sets south of 26°S.
NGC 7020 is 140 million light-years away
The light seen from NGC 7020 tonight left it about 140 million years ago, long before modern humans existed. It ranks 263 of 422 by distance among the galaxies on Go Astronomy. Distance source: Hubble flow, v=3011 km/s, H0=70.
Objects within 6° of NGC 7020
No other Messier, Caldwell or Herschel 400 object lies within 6°.
