Hubble Telescope Discovers New Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy In Our Cosmic Backyard

It seems like astronomers discovered yet another galaxy in our galactic neighborhood. A mysterious galaxy hiding behind the cluster, distant undiscovered galaxy millions of light-years away. Interestingly, the new galaxy was discovered by accident by the Hubble space telescope.

While investigating a nearby globular star cluster called NGC 6752, a team of astronomers stumbled upon the brand new galaxy, designated Bedin 1.

According to NASA:

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was NASA's project in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA). HST, for those whose don't already know, is a space telescope which was launched 1990 and still in operation in low Earth orbit to date.

NASA's e Hubble Space Telescope

Bedin 1 is a very old dwarf spheroidal galaxy, possibly as old as 13 billion years. This also puts Bedin 1 at about the very age of the universe itself. Additionally, the diminutive Bedin 1 galaxy is only about 3,000 light-years across. In comparison with our Milky Way, Bedin 1 is about 30 times smaller and around a thousand times dimmer.

The new galaxy discovered at the outer edge of the Hubble Space Telescope

The new galaxy is also very isolated from other galaxies. According to astronomers, Bedin 1 is the most distant standalone dwarf galaxy yet discovered so far.

As per the European Space Agency, the discovery of Bedin 1 was a delightful accident as the Hubble space telescope is rarely captured such images, especially for a dim object which covers only a small section of the sky.

The findings have been now published on January 21, 2019, by the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters.