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Birthday · October 3, 1999

Nearby Dwarf Galaxy Leo I

October 3, 1999

Even the most precise clock in the world cannot measure how unlikely your existence really is.

Nearby Dwarf Galaxy Leo I

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APOD published October 3, 1999. Credit: David Malin (AAO), AATB. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.

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Nearby Dwarf Galaxy Leo I

Original APOD · October 3, 1999

Leo I is a dwarf spheroidal galaxy in the Local Group of galaxies dominated by our Milky Way Galaxy and M31. Leo I is thought to be the most distant of the eleven known small satellite galaxies orbiting our Milky Way Galaxy. Besides the LMC and the SMC, all Milky Way satellite galaxies are small, dim, dwarf spheroidals, including the closest galaxy - the Sagittarius Dwarf. Leo I is more distant than most of them, thought to be about 250 kpc away. Although very little star-forming gas is visible in Leo I, analysis of star ages shows that stars have formed as recently as a billion years ago.

Image credit: David Malin (AAO), AATB

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