Scientific
American: A dwarf galaxy relatively close to the Milky Way
was
recently
spotted by astronomers using the Arecibo Observatory radio
telescope in Puerto Rico. Tiny by galactic standards and only 5
million to 6 million light-years away, Leo P has hundreds of
thousands of stars compared with the Milky Way's hundreds of
billions. Because of their small size, dwarf galaxies tend to
be faint and therefore hard to see. Leo P stood out, however,
because it is in the process of forming bright young blue
stars. Dwarf galaxies are also rare as they frequently get
swallowed up by larger ones. Astronomers hope the discovery
will help them learn more about galaxy dynamics and point the
way toward other, similar sightings.
