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Astronomers Discover Nearby Dwarf Galaxy!
Provided by UCLA
A team led by UCLA research astronomer Michael Rich has used a unique telescope to discover a previously unknown companion to the nearby galaxy NGC 4449, which is some 12.5 million light years from Earth. The newly discovered dwarf galaxy had escaped even the prying eyes of the Hubble Space Telescope. The research is published Feb. 9 in the journal Nature.
The larger, host galaxy, NGC 4449, may be “something of a living fossil,” representing what most galaxies probably looked like shortly after the Big Bang, Rich said. The galaxy is forming stars “so furiously” that it has giant clusters of young stars and even appears bluish — a sign of a young galaxy — to the eye in large amateur telescopes, he said.

(NGC 4449 with companion)
NGC 4449 has a nucleus that may someday host a black hole and an irregular structure, lacking the spiral arms characteristic of many galaxies, he said. It is surrounded by a huge complex of hydrogen gas that spans approximately 300,000 light years, which may be fueling its burst of star formation.
With the C28 telescope, the astronomers discovered the companion dwarf galaxy, which has “evidently experienced a close encounter with the nucleus of NGC 4449,” Rich said. Dubbed NGC 4449B, the dwarf galaxy has been stretched into a comet-like shape by this gravitational encounter…
(read more: PhysOrg)
(top illustration of Milky Way with NGC 4449 along side it, by William Hurt)

Astronomers Discover Nearby Dwarf Galaxy!

Provided by UCLA

A team led by UCLA research astronomer Michael Rich has used a unique telescope to discover a previously unknown companion to the nearby galaxy NGC 4449, which is some 12.5 million light years from Earth. The newly discovered dwarf galaxy had escaped even the prying eyes of the Hubble Space Telescope. The research is published Feb. 9 in the journal Nature.

The larger, host galaxy, NGC 4449, may be “something of a living fossil,” representing what most galaxies probably looked like shortly after the Big Bang, Rich said. The galaxy is forming stars “so furiously” that it has giant clusters of young stars and even appears bluish — a sign of a young galaxy — to the eye in large amateur telescopes, he said.

(NGC 4449 with companion)

NGC 4449 has a nucleus that may someday host a black hole and an irregular structure, lacking the spiral arms characteristic of many galaxies, he said. It is surrounded by a huge complex of hydrogen gas that spans approximately 300,000 light years, which may be fueling its burst of star formation.

With the C28 telescope, the astronomers discovered the companion dwarf galaxy, which has “evidently experienced a close encounter with the nucleus of NGC 4449,” Rich said. Dubbed NGC 4449B, the dwarf galaxy has been stretched into a comet-like shape by this gravitational encounter…

(read more: PhysOrg)

(top illustration of Milky Way with NGC 4449 along side it, by William Hurt)