Hubble News: The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured the image of UGC 4879 or VV124, a dwarf irregular galaxy located some 4 million light-years away. The high resolution image shared by Hubble can be seen to have detected individual stars even in the most dense parts of the galaxy.
According to NASA, astronomers will be able to "better determine the galaxy’s distance, and the composition and age of its stars" by studying the image.
The space agency reported that the isolated dwarf galaxy, UGC 4879, is located just beyond our Local Group of galaxies. Due to its isolation, astronomers are examining it to determine whether it is an old and "relatively undisturbed" galaxy.
Theories suggest that the smallest dwarf galaxies may have been among the first to form in the universe. Hence, if UGC 4879 is indeed a relic from the early universe, it could offer valuable insights into the hierarchical structure and evolution of galaxies, galaxy clusters, and even the universe as a whole.
The image shared by NASA combines data from two observing programs of the Hubble Space Telescope that focus on deeper learning of the dwarf galaxies to better determine how they form and evolve.
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What Is A Dwarf Galaxy?
A dwarf galaxy is a small galaxy containing a few billion stars, far fewer than the hundreds of billions found in larger galaxies like our Milky Way or the Andromeda Galaxy. Such dwarf galaxies usually orbit the larger galaxies, and are believed to have formed either through gravitational forces during the early development of larger galaxies or from galaxy collisions, where streams of material and dark matter were ejected from parent galaxies.
The Milky Way alone has at least 14 satellite dwarf galaxies orbiting it. These small galaxies are considered modern counterparts to the distant galaxies observed in deep field galaxy surveys, offering insights into the early stages of galaxy and star formation in the young universe.
Despite their modest appearance, dwarf galaxies play a significant role in cosmology by helping us understand the evolution of the universe. Dwarf irregular galaxies, in particular, are characterised by low metallicity and abundant gas, closely resembling the first galaxies that populated the universe.
There are several types of dwarf galaxies, including dwarf ellipticals, dwarf spheroidals, and dwarf irregulars. They can vary in shape and composition but typically have low mass, low brightness, and fewer stars compared to larger galaxies.