Meet Antlia, a newly discovered neighbor of
our Milky Way Galaxy. Announced just last week, this faint member
of our Local Group of Galaxies
has only about one million stars. It is late in being noticed
because it is so hard to see against a bright sky. This faint galaxy is seen here in the background - the bright stars visible are in our own galaxy. The Antlia Dwarf Galaxy
is actually a dwarf spheroidal galaxy,
similar to nine known dwarf spheroidals that orbit our Milky Way
Galaxy. Antlia,
named for the constellation
in which it resides, is unusual because it does not hover near
either of the two major galaxies of the Local Group: our Milky Way Galaxy
and M31.
1997-04-23