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Monday, November 23, 2009

Photo: "Rogue" Dwarf Shines New Light on Tiny Galaxies


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There's a new rogue dwarf joining our party—although it's not one you'd be likely to find in World of Warcraft.

Andromeda XIV is a recently discovered dwarf galaxy on the outskirts of galaxy M31 (seen above), which is part of the so-called galactic local group that includes our Milky Way.

The odd dwarf is moving too fast to fit into standard models of how these tiny, faint galaxies take shape, a new study says, which suggests that it might have formed in isolation and is just now entering our cosmic neighborhood.

Image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech