... 29.03.1997 . ... Credit: A. Oksanen, 2.6 meter Nordic Optical Telescope Explanation: What's the closest galaxy to our Milky Way ? ... Deemed the " Sagittarius Dwarf ", this small galaxy went unnoticed until its discovery in 1994 by R. Ibata, G. Gilmore and M. Irwin ( RGO ). The reason the Sagittarius Dwarf hadn't been discovered earlier is because it is so dim, it is so spread out over the sky, and there are so many Milky Way stars in front of it. ... Publications with keywords: Sagittarius . ...