Fornax Dwarf

The Fornax dwarf galaxy (catalog designations ESO 356-04 and -06-07-001 MCG ) is a small elliptical galaxy (type dE2 ) in the constellation of Chemical oven ( Fornax ). It belongs to the Local Group, and is only 450,000 light years away. It has a brightness of 9.3 mag.

Because of their low surface brightness dwarf galaxy was discovered in 1938 by Harlow Shapley. He used a 24-inch reflecting telescope at the South African Boyden Observatory. The dwarf galaxy contains six globular clusters. The largest among them, NGC 1049, was discovered before the galaxy itself.

A significant number of the stars of Fornax is older than 10 billion years; in an era before 3-4 billion years, there was a renewed, intense star formation.