Posted on 04/15/2016 7:44:48 AM PDT by MtnClimber
The galaxy’s empire has a new colony. Astronomers have detected a dwarf galaxy orbiting the Milky Way whose span stretches farther than nearly all other Milky Way satellites. It may belong to a small group of galaxies that is falling into our own.
Giant galaxies like the Milky Way grew large when smaller galaxies merged, according to simulations. The simulations also suggest that whole groups of galaxies can fall into a single giant at the same time. The best examples in our cosmic neighbourhood are the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, the Milky Way’s two brightest satellites, which probably orbit each other.
Orbiting galaxies About four dozen known galaxies orbit our own. The largest in terms of breadth is the Sagittarius dwarf, discovered in 1994 – but it’s big only because our galaxy’s gravity is ripping it apart. The next two largest are the Magellanic Clouds.
Now, Gabriel Torrealba at the University of Cambridge and his colleagues have found a new galaxy about 380,000 light years away in the constellation Crater. “It’s the fourth largest satellite of the Milky Way,” Torrealba says.
Named the Crater 2 dwarf, the new galaxy is not apparent to human eyes, though individual stars within the galaxy are visible. The team were only able to find it this January by using a computer to look for over-densities of stars in data from images taken by a telescope in Chile.
Are we causing universal warming?
Excellent!!!
My super galactic attractor beam is working!!!
J-school + Marx + Star Wars
You can't say dwarf galaxy. That's insulting to small galaxies.
That is a microaggression.
And GALaxy is sexist! I demand guyaxies!
The largest is a dwarf?
It is the Galaxy X Louie Farrakahn has warned us about.
Is this because of global warming?
Whatever happened to the TAU project? The one to send a telescope Thousands of Astronomical Units up out of the plane of the Milky Way? It would give us a clearer view of our own galaxy and hangers on and a good baseline for accurate triangulation.
The largest is a dwarf?
Not just any dwarf, but a LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget!
The light from that galaxy left it 380,000 years ago. Who knows what it looks like now? Maybe it has put on some weight since then.
I hope they don’t have a Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator.
“Whatever happened to the TAU project? The one to send a telescope Thousands of Astronomical Units up out of the plane of the Milky Way? It would give us a clearer view of our own galaxy and hangers on and a good baseline for accurate triangulation.”
In about 25,000 years. Maybe.
To prevent war, the galaxy is on Orion’s belt.
It just snuck in there?
*ping*
Thanks! Saw it earlier and completely forgot it during a hunt through open tabs. This will be an X-Planets ping, and an extra to APoD.
Don't worry, it was stolen my some Earth creature.
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