DUTCH radio astronomers have discovered a galaxy which is so close to ours
that it appears almost as large as the full Moon.
Butler Burton of Leiden University and Robert Braun of the Netherlands
Foundation for Research in Astronomy discovered the new galaxy, dubbed Cepheus
1, with the Dutch 25-metre Dwingeloo radio telescope which recorded radio waves
from the galaxy鈥檚 neutral hydrogen gas. It has never been seen before because it
is very faint, and most of its light is absorbed by dust in the Milky Way.
Follow-up observations by scientists at New Mexico State University confirmed
that this is a so-called low-surface-brightness galaxy only 20 million light
years away. The galaxy is in the Local Void, a supposedly empty region in
space.
Advertisement
鈥淭here might be other galaxies hiding there,鈥� Burton says.