The galaxy has a negative radial velocity of -35 km/second. NGC1560 is close enough to the Earth that its distance must be derived directly (not using redshift). Karachentsev et al. (2003) report a distance of 3.45 Mpc (11.2 million light years), while Madore (1993) give 2.5 Mpc (8.1 Mly) using the brightest stars method. Currently, the most accurate estimate is approximately 8 to 12 million light years. At this distance, it is relatively close to Earth, but not part of theLocal Group.
This galaxy is approximately 35 thousand light years wide, determined by its apparent size of 11.6 by 1.9 arcminutes.[5]