Amateur Spots Unusual Galaxy: Gemini North Takes Closer Look
Maunakea Observatories Contribute to the First-Ever Image of the Black Hole at the Center of the Milky Way
June 20, 2022HB2024
July 7, 2022
A unique ultra-faint dwarf galaxy has been discovered in the outer fringes of the Andromeda Galaxy thanks to the sharp eyes of an amateur astronomer. Follow-up by professional astronomers using the International Gemini Observatory revealed that the dwarf galaxy — Pegasus V — contains very few heavier elements and is likely to be a fossil of the first galaxies. Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA. Acknowledgment: Image processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab), M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab) & D. de Martin (NSF’s NOIRLab)
On the outer fringes of the Andromeda Galaxy an unusual ultra-faint dwarf galaxy, first spotted by an amateur astronomer, has been observed by the Gemini North telescope on Maunakea. The followup observations reveal the galaxy is a “fossil,” and among the first galaxies to form in the Universe.
Read more, in the Gemini Observatory press release. The International Gemini Observatory is a program of NSF’s NOIRLab.
