Arp 256

Arp 256 is a spiral galaxy located approximately 350 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Cetus. Its coordinates in the sky are right ascension 12.113° and declination -10.361°, and it is catalogued in the Arp Catalogue of Peculiar Galaxies.

The light reaching Earth from Arp 256 today left the galaxy roughly 350 million years ago. What you see in telescope imagery is a snapshot of the galaxy as it appeared before most of Earth’s mammalian history.

Through the Galactic Registry, you can symbolically dedicate Arp 256 in a name, memory, or message of your choosing. Your dedication is filed permanently in our public registry and printed on an archival 12″×18″ cotton-stock certificate, shipped worldwide. This is not an official IAU renaming — only the International Astronomical Union can officially name celestial bodies — but it is a permanent symbolic act tied to a galaxy that demonstrably exists, can be pointed at from any observatory on Earth, and has been imaged by NASA, ESA, or a ground-based telescope.