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Dwarf Galaxies Discovered

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the reading-the-skies dept.

d'alz writes "Two new satellite galaxies have been discovered in the Milky Way. These dim dwarf galaxies bring the total number of galaxies in the Milky Way's cosmic neighborhood to a total of 14. Of course, theorists believe there could be a hundred more. The two dwarfs were found in the direction of the constellations Canes Venatici (the hunting dogs) and Bootes (the herdsman), scientists studying the Sloan Digital Sky Survey said in a statement. However, even though these galaxies are presumably quite close, they are difficult to spot, as they are very dim, which is a defining characteristic of dwarf galaxies."

42 comments

  1. PC by Deltaspectre · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's *NOT* PC to call them that guys!

    They prefer size impaired galaxies...

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    1. Re:PC by suso · · Score: 1

      impaired is a negative word, let's use the term "large multi star solar systems".

    2. Re:PC by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 2, Funny

      They prefer size impaired galaxies...

      They don't want your help. Remember that NOBODY tosses a dwarf!

    3. Re:PC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LITTLE PEOPLE Galaxies... geez, move along now.

    4. Re:PC by thewiz · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Um, my wife is a dwarf and often corrects people who are PC.
      She's been called:
      Altitudenly-challenged
      Vertically-challenged
      Height-challenged
      Diminutive
      Little lady
      Little mom (by kids)
      etc.

      and she's always quick to say, "I'm short/small! Get over it!"

      I'm sure these galaxies feel the same way.

      --
      If "disco" means "I learn" in Latin, does "discothèque" mean "I learn technology"?
    5. Re:PC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think you mean:
      NOBODY tosses a dwarf......galaxy.

    6. Re:PC by RareButSeriousSideEf · · Score: 1

      Whatever you call them, if they come in an incestuous, siamese, hermaphrodite version, sign me up at the prerelease price.

      --
      Pi Ran Out
  2. Dim dwarfs? by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Surely you mean "challenged little galaxies" not "dim dwarf galaxies".

    Freaking bigots...

    1. Re:Dim dwarfs? by mcsestretch · · Score: 2, Funny

      They were going to call them the Stupid Midget galaxies but cooler heads prevailed at the last minute.

  3. I've heard this before by DarthChris · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I remember hearing something about this [b]years[/b] ago. Is this old news or have they found galaxies additional to those already known?

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    1. Re:I've heard this before by Jugalator · · Score: 1

      Is this old news or have they found galaxies additional to those already known?

      You need to start reading the first sentence in the Slashdot article summary.

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    2. Re:I've heard this before by porkchop_d_clown · · Score: 5, Interesting

      These are new.

      Through various techniques we're building up a more detailed understanding of the shape of our own galaxy - this is easy to do when looking at other galaxies, but quite hard to do for our own - imagine trying to get a detailed map of the human body from inside the stomach.

      Since it's hard to tell how far away stars are, what they've been doing is gathering motion and spectrographic maps of them - figuring out which stars are obviously affecting each other, which stars are chemically similar and so on, and building 3d models from these.

      It was just a year or two ago we figured out the Milky Way is in the middle digesting another smaller galaxy in the direction of Saggitarius.

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    3. Re:I've heard this before by tverbeek · · Score: 2, Funny
      And stop using BBcode in your comments. :)

      Combined with the almost-a-million ID number, somehow "You must be new here" seems redundant. ;)

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    4. Re:I've heard this before by DarthChris · · Score: 1

      It was just a year or two ago we figured out the Milky Way is in the middle digesting another smaller galaxy in the direction of Saggitarius.

      I hope our galaxy, the Milky Way, doesn't get indigestion then.

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    5. Re:I've heard this before by Morrigu · · Score: 1

      No one reads the articles, why read the summary?

      Post first, think later. That's the Slashdot way. :)

      Who needs that pesky "Preview" button anyway?

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    6. Re:I've heard this before by powerlord · · Score: 2, Funny
      It was just a year or two ago we figured out the Milky Way is in the middle digesting another smaller galaxy in the direction of Saggitarius.

      I hope our galaxy, the Milky Way, doesn't get indigestion then.


      Don't worry, Milky Way of Magnesia will fix that right up.
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    7. Re:I've heard this before by Malakusen · · Score: 1

      Depending on where in the Milky Way Galaxy, it could be the death of us all...


      millions and possibly billions of years from now.

      --
      Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to conviction
  4. Basic question on naming... by porkchop_d_clown · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Seeing how these "galaxies" are smaller than many clusters, why are they called "galaxies"?

    Is this just another arbitrary thing, like the difference between a "planet" and an "asteroid"?

    --
    Clear, Dark Skies
    1. Re:Basic question on naming... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I can't answer your question, but I can share my suspicion that the distinction is made based upon such criteria as the trajectory of the little galaxy. If you had a galactic disk with a pretty uniform orbital speed and plane, you'd pretty much conclude that stars in that plane and orbit were original to the formation of the galaxy. But if you find a group of stars that are just way different, going faster and out of the plane, or whose trajectory could be traced to originating outside the galaxy, then you could make the conclusion that this group of stars, though it be smaller than many galactic clusters, originated seperately from the galaxy and are in fact, either their own galaxy, or the remaining remnant of one.

    2. Re:Basic question on naming... by mazarin5 · · Score: 2, Informative
      There's no exclusiveness there. Clouds and clusters are galaxies, there's no distinction.

      Really, the only place you could contest whether something was a galaxy or not would be multiple star systems on the small side and whether or not two galaxies are actually separate on the large side. Really though, multiple star systems move together, so that's not really a question, and most of the stars in a galaxy tend to orbit in the same general direction and in the same plane. If a large grouping of stars moved together in a way that's very eccentric to our galactic plane, even if it orbits our galactic center, then it's likely a minigalaxy.

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      Fnord.
  5. Oy vey... by The-Bus · · Score: 4, Funny

    "These dim dwarf galaxies..."

    I know Gimli wasn't particularly clever but I think this is borderline offensive. Lousy dwarfist editors. You deserve a kick in the gloin.

    *groan*

    --

    Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.

    1. Re:Oy vey... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Glóin, son of Gróin

      No joke. Weirdddd...

    2. Re:Oy vey... by GMFTatsujin · · Score: 1

      I think instead of "kick" you mean "head butt."

  6. Cue the D&D/LOTR/Mini-me jokes by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 1, Insightful

    in 3.. 2.. 1..

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    1. Re:Cue the D&D/LOTR/Mini-me jokes by Cheapy · · Score: 2, Funny

      So Gimli, a Dreugar, and Mini-Me walk into a bar...

      --
      Would you kindly mod me +1 insightful?
    2. Re:Cue the D&D/LOTR/Mini-me jokes by Malakusen · · Score: 1

      ...which everyone else simply steps over.

      Nerd moment incoming

      BTW, it's duergar, not dreugar. [/nerd]

      --
      Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to conviction
    3. Re:Cue the D&D/LOTR/Mini-me jokes by smellsofbikes · · Score: 1

      I was gonna say "and the bartender says, 'What is this, a joke?'" but yours is much funnier.

      --
      Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
  7. Color.... by Churla · · Score: 3, Funny

    Any of them Red perchance?

    And are any of them broadcasting us pictures of Hitler?

    --
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    1. Re:Color.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That was a dumb comment.

  8. So that's why by sharkey · · Score: 5, Funny

    I understand now why I don't see Orion in the sky all year round: He's off with Perseus and Hercules drinking and dwarf-galaxy tossing!

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  9. Picture here by Anonymose+Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Dwarf galaxy picture.

    1. Re:Picture here by tukkayoot · · Score: 1

      Here is the other of the two newly discovered galaxies.

    2. Re:Picture here by pimpimpim · · Score: 1

      Actual pictures from the Dwarf Galaxy here, here, and here

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    3. Re:Picture here by Farmer+Tim · · Score: 1

      Four stars does not make a galaxy.

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  10. Follow up.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Does anyone know more about that slashdot article a while ago on humongous galaxies ? These galaxies were to be so big that they would cover thirty degrees of the night sky, as some clever slashdotter calculated. It sounded pretty implausible to me at the time, but does anyone have follow-up on that ?

  11. dark matter by Tedium+Unleased · · Score: 0

    How are physicists so convinced that the missing matter from their equations must be in some kind of weirdo "dark matter" when we are still detecting galaxies in our own back yard?

    1. Re:dark matter by budgenator · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Mostly arrogence I'd guess, a "if we haven't seen it yet, it most be un-seeable" kind of a thing. These drawf galaxies are really just a speck of fly shit in the grand scale of things, and comparing them to the missing matter is like comparing mosquitoes to brontosaurses. So we'll just chuckle to ourselves and remember which was the last to bite us in the ass, and how much room there is for little specks of flyshit in the universe; then yell out "Hey , did you look over there yet?", like my wife does after she has "cleaned up" where i left my car keys.

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  12. Shock by shoma-san · · Score: 1

    Oh my God! There's stars in the sky that we haven't counted!

    1. Re:Shock by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh my god! There's morons on slashdot!

  13. Did them found Chappa'i Network there yet? by glozano · · Score: 1

    Are StarGates present in those galaxies? I Think yes, Alterans were covering all the neighborhood.. Are Furlings hiding there? You never know :)

  14. Begs the relativistic question... by BaronHethorSamedi · · Score: 1

    Do astronomers in the newly discovered galaxies point their telescopes at us and claim credit for the discovery of a "freakishly tall" galaxy?