Skip to content

Biting the hand that feeds IT

The Register ®

Science:


Related Whitepapers

[Print][Mobile][Alerts]

Dim galactic dwarves lurk around Milky Way

Dark matters

Published Tuesday 9th May 2006 09:43 GMT

Astronomers have discovered two new dwarf galaxies in the Milky Way's immediate neighbourhood. The dim clusters are both around 640,000 light years from our Sun, Reuters reports.

One of the new boys is located in the constellation Canes Venatici. The other, found in Bootes is the least luminous galaxy yet discovered. In universal terms it's a mere tealight, with a brightness of about 100,000 Suns.

Measurements of metal abundances detected the pair. They are too dim to be revealed by Earthbound photography.

The dim duo bring the total number of dwarves around the Milky Way to 14, though theory predicts there should be hundreds embedded in dark matter clumps. The discrepancy between observations and calculations is yet to be resolved.

The finding comes from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, which aims to systematically map a quarter of the universe in unprecedented detail. ®

Track this type of story as a custom Atom/RSS feed or by email.
Previous Article Next Article
whitepaper title

The Register Guides : The status of iSCSI

Now that the hype's abated, have companies backing iSCSI have run out of energy and patience, or is the technology becoming commonplace and accepted?.
whitepaper title

How IT Management Can "Green" the Data Center

This Gartner research provides managers with an outline of the trends affecting datacenters and offers strategies with which to address these changes..
Whitepapers

Top 20 storiesAll The Week’s HeadlinesArchiveSearch