Dwarf galaxy

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A dwarf galaxy is a small galaxy composed of up to several billion stars, a small number compared to our own Milky Way's 200-400 billion stars. The Large Magellanic Cloud, containing over 30 billion stars, is sometimes classified as a dwarf galaxy while others consider it a full-fledged galaxy going around the Milky Way galaxy.

There are many dwarf galaxies in the Local Group: these small galaxies frequently orbit around larger galaxies, such as the Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy and the Triangulum Galaxy.

The Milky Way has 14 known dwarf galaxies orbiting it, and recent discoveries have also led astronomers to believe the largest globular cluster in the Milky Way, Omega Centauri, is in fact the core of a dwarf galaxy with a black hole in its center, which was at some time absorbed by the Milky Way. (See Milky Way for more information.)

Dwarf galaxies come in many different morphologies:

The recently coined term, hobbit galaxy has been used to describe galaxies smaller and dimmer than dwarf galaxies.[1],[2]

[edit] Partial list of dwarf galaxies

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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