Andromeda IV turns out to be a solitary gas-rich dwarf galaxy
Tuesday, December 22, 2015 - 10:35
in Astronomy & Space
(Phys.org)—Andromeda IV, discovered in 1972 by Canadian astronomer Sidney Van den Berghan, is believed to be an irregular satellite of our neighboring Andromeda galaxy, also known as Messier 31. Now, a new study conducted by an international team of scientists led by Igor Karachentsev of the Special Astrophysical Observatory in Nizhnij Arkhyz, Russia, tells a different story regarding Andromeda IV's true nature. The study, published online on Dec. 18 in the arXiv pre-print server, indicates that the object of interest is a gas-abundant solitary irregular dwarf galaxy.