Astronomers Discover Nearby Spiral Galaxy Hidden Behind the Milky Way

This visual light image of a newly discovered galaxy called "Dwingeloo 1," was taken with the Isaac Newton Telescope on La Palma in the Canary Islands (Administered by the Royal Greenwich Observatory, United Kingdom).

Though only ten million light-years away (or five times the distance of the Andromeda galaxy - closest city of stars to our Milky Way Galaxy), this newly discovered collection of more than 100 billion stars has gone undetected previously because it is hidden from view behind our Milky Way galaxy. It probably belongs to a nearby group of galaxies that include two named Maffei 1 and 2.

Credit:

Dwingeloo Obscured Galaxy Survey team, S. Hughes, & S. Maddox/Isaac Newton telescope (RGO)

About the Image

NASA press release
Id:opo9451a
Type:Observation
Release date:4 November 1994
Size:474 x 600 px

About the Object

Name:Dwingeloo 1
Type:Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Spiral
Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Barred
Distance:9 million light years
Constellation:Cassiopeia
Category:Galaxies

Image Formats

r.titleLarge JPEG
133.9 KB
r.titleScreensize JPEG
431.6 KB

Coordinates

Position (RA):2 56 49.27
Position (Dec):58° 55' 11.70"
Field of view:6.90 x 8.74 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 0.5° left of vertical


Colours & filters

BandTelescope
Optical
V
Other
Optical
R
Other
Infrared
I
Other

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