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posted by martyb on Wednesday November 28 2018, @10:43AM   Printer-friendly
from the astronomy:-where-something-the-size-of-a-galaxy-is-called-"dwarf" dept.

Phys.org:

Using data from ESA's Gaia spacecraft, astronomers have discovered a new Milky Way satellite in the constellation Antlia. The newly found dwarf galaxy, named Antlia 2, is several times larger when compared to other systems of similar luminosity. The finding is detailed in a paper published November 9 on arXiv.org.

The Milky Way is known to be orbited by dozens of smaller, gravitationally bound galaxies. Although the list of identified satellites is relatively long, astronomers believe that some are still undetected.

[...] The search resulted in the finding of an enormous, faint dwarf galaxy orbiting the Milky Way, which has received the designation Antlia 2 (or Ant 2 for short). Its nature was confirmed by spectroscopic observations with the 2dF+AAOmega Spectrograph on the 3.9 m Anglo-Australian Telescope and archival DECam imaging. The astronomers refer to the newly found satellite as "the hidden giant," given that the galaxy turned out to be significantly much[sic] larger than other systems in the Local Group with similar luminosity.

The Milky Way has groupies.


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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by takyon on Wednesday November 28 2018, @03:29PM (3 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday November 28 2018, @03:29PM (#767316) Journal

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_galaxy [wikipedia.org]

    A dwarf galaxy is a small galaxy composed of about 100 million up to several billion stars, a small number compared to the Milky Way's 200–400 billion stars. The Large Magellanic Cloud, which closely orbits the Milky Way and contains over 30 billion stars, is sometimes classified as a dwarf galaxy; others consider it a full-fledged galaxy. Dwarf galaxies' formation and activity are thought to be heavily influenced by interactions with larger galaxies. Astronomers identify numerous types of dwarf galaxies, based on their shape and composition.

    The usual classification wrangling? #PlutoIsNotADwarfGalaxy

    But the actual problem here is that the size doesn't seem to match the luminosity. Maybe its a dwarf filled with (red and brown) dwarfs.

    Here's a fun object:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_Centauri [wikipedia.org]

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  • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday November 28 2018, @05:48PM

    by bob_super (1357) on Wednesday November 28 2018, @05:48PM (#767377)

    *Stares at astronomers*
    You keep using that word...

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 28 2018, @07:26PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 28 2018, @07:26PM (#767425)

    Do they use dwarfs or dwarves as the plural though?