Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy

The Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy is the closest galaxy to our Milky Way.

From a Press Release:

"Called the Canis Major dwarf galaxy after the constellation in which it lies, it is about 25000 light years away from the solar system and 42000 light years from the centre of the Milky Way. This is closer than the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy, discovered in 1994, which is also colliding with the Milky Way.

". . . stronomers found the main dismembered corpse of the dwarf galaxy in Canis Major and long trails of stars leading back to it. It seems that streams of stars pulled out of the cannibalised Canis Major galaxy not only contribute to the outer reaches of the Milky Way's disk, but may also pass close to the Sun."

http://astro.u-strasbg.fr/images_ri/canm-e.html

Here's a cool photo from

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap071104.html





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