Barnard's Galaxy (NGC 6822)

Barnard's Galaxy (NGC 6822) — galaxy, shown live in Cosmoscope, a real-time 3D map of the universe.

A ragged bar of stars strung with glowing hydrogen bubbles — a free-floating cousin of the Magellanic Clouds, discovered by Edward Barnard in 1884.

Type

Barred irregular (IB(s)m)

Distance

1.6 million light-years

Note

A Local Group "Magellanic" dwarf

Seeing Barnard's Galaxy (NGC 6822) in real time

Barnard's Galaxy (NGC 6822) is placed at its true position on the sky and at its real measured distance, not as a flat backdrop. Fly out from the Sun in the live 3D view and watch it change from a point of light into structure as you approach, with the scale bar showing just how far out you have travelled.