The Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy is the closest galaxy to us discovered in 2002.
Overview
This Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy is only 25,000 light-years from the sun and it is 42,000 light-years away from the . Galactic center. The reason why it was not discovered earlier is that it was hidden by the dust material in space and it is in the plane of the Milky Way.
The galaxy is also pulled up by the gravity of the Milky Way’s galaxy. This galaxy is making the orbitals of the Milky Way galaxy and leaving a long filament of stars during the circulation including some dust, and gas in its wake.
The leaving of filament nature of the galaxy makes a special type of ring and called the Monoceros Ring and the age of this ring is 200,000 light-years. This thread-like filament wraps the galaxy three times.
The discovery of this galaxy is done while searching for the cause behind the Ring. And the investigation is completed with the discovery of the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy in 2002. And the material which is coming out from the galaxy sometimes creates the illusion with the galaxy of the Milky Way.
Characteristics of the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy
- The Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy is believed to contain one billion stars and a high percentage of the stars are in the Red Giant Branch phase of their lifetime.
- The filaments of the stars and the stream is discovered in the 21st century by astronomers conducting the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS).
- This survey which was formerly known as the collaborative astronomical mission, and it was taking place between 1997 and 2001.Mt. Hopkinswas the observatory person in Arizona.
