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Credit & Copyright: A. Oksanen, 2.6 meter Nordic
Optical Telescope
Explanation:
What's the closest galaxy to our Milky Way?
For many years astronomers thought it was the Large Magellanic
Cloud
(LMC). But the seemingly insignificant fuzzy patch shown above
turned out to be part of a galaxy that is even closer. 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. The distance
to the Sagittarius Dwarf
was recently measured to be about one third of the distance to
the LMC. Astronomers now believe that this galaxy is slowly being torn apart
by the vast gravitational forces of our Galaxy.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Sagittarius
Publications with words: Sagittarius
See also: