'Tidy' Dwarf Galaxy Captured in Stunning Detail with ESO's VLT

The Milky Way galaxy may have a clean and "tidy" galactic neighbor. Researchers have gotten a closer look at IC1613, a dwarf galaxy in the constellation of Cetus.

The galaxy was first discovered in 1906, seen as a faint glow. Later, in 1928, researchers used a 2.5-meter telescope to successfully make out the galaxy's individual stars. From these observations, astronomers figured out that the galaxy must be quite close to the Milky Way, since it's only possible to resolve pinprick-like stars in the very nearest galaxies to us.

Since then, astronomers have confirmed that IC 1613 is a member of the Local Group, which is a collection of more than 50 galaxies that includes our home galaxy, the Milky Way. IC1613 lies just over 2.3 million light-years away from us. It's an irregular dwarf that lacks many of the features, such as a starry disc, found in some other diminutive galaxies.

While the galaxy lacks a bit in form, it makes up for it in tidiness. Astronomers know the galaxy's position to a remarkably high precision due to the unusually low levels of dust lying both within the galaxy and along the line of sight from the Milky Way. This allows astronomers to have much clearer observations of the galaxy.

In this case, the researchers caught a new image of the galaxy with the Omegacam Camera on ESO's VLT Survey Telescope. This shows the galaxy to be a sparkling gem shining out in the depths of space.

To see more photos taken with the VST, visit ESO's website.

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