Leo II (dwarf galaxy)
The Leo II dwarf galaxy Leo II briefly (sometimes Leo B) is a dwarf spheroidal galaxy in the constellation of Leo.
The approximately 690,000 light-years distant galaxy was discovered in 1950 by Robert G. Harrington and Albert George Wilson of the Mount Wilson Observatory and Palomar Observatory in California.
As of October 2008, it is one of the 24 known satellite galaxies of the Milky Way.
Properties
In 2007, the core radius of Leo II (178 ± 13 ) pc and its tidal radius was determined to be (632 ± 32 ) pc. Also in 2007, a team of 15 scientists Leo II observed by the Subaru telescope, an optical and near-infrared reflecting telescope with a mirror 8.2 m on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. About two observation nights away counted down to 26th visual magnitude in 90 minutes recording time 82 252 stars.
The astrophysicists found mainly in Leo II, a population of old metal-poor stars, an indication that the galaxy survived the galactic cannibalism, while the massive galaxies such as our Milky Way assimilate smaller to achieve their considerable size.
Observations at the European Southern Observatory estimate the mass of Leo II (2.7 ± 0.5 ) × 107 M ⊙.
More
- Dwarf galaxy
- Local Group