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Phoenix666 [soylentnews.org] writes:

Phys.org [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 larger than other systems in the Local Group with similar luminosity.

The Milky Way has groupies.

Original Submission