SDSS-J22172+3606

SDSS J22172+3606 is a spiral galaxy located approximately 164.4 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo. Its coordinates in the sky are right ascension 221.723° and declination 36.064°, and it is catalogued in the SDSS.

The light reaching Earth from SDSS J22172+3606 today left the galaxy roughly 164.4 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 SDSS J22172+3606 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.