IC 438

IC 438 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation of Lepus. Its velocity with respect to the cosmic microwave background is, which corresponds to a Hubble distance of. However, 17 non-redshift measurements give a much closer distance of. It was discovered by American astronomer Lewis Swift on 7 January 1891.
IC438 is a Seyfert I Galaxy, i.e. it has a quasar-like nucleus with very high surface brightnesses whose spectra reveal strong, high-ionisation emission lines, but unlike quasars, the host galaxy is clearly detectable.

IC 438 Group

According to A.M. Garcia, IC 438 is one of five members of the IC 438 galaxy group, which includes IC 2143, UGCA 113, MCG -03-15-021, and ESO 555- G 005.

Supernovae

Three supernovae have been observed in IC 438:

SN 1997B was discovered by Alessandro Gabrijelcic on 13 January 1997.
SN 2016blx was discovered by the Backyard Observatory Supernova Search on 9 April 2016.
SN 2017gbb was discovered by the Gaia Photometric Science Alerts programme on 9 August 2017.