Dwarf Galaxy Donatiello I
July 08, 2019
Image Creator: Giuseppe Donatiello
Summary Author: Giuseppe Donatiello
Donatiello I is a new spherical, dwarf galaxy some 9.8 million light-years away, in the direction of Andromeda. I was the first to identify this new object by analyzing a set of images, taken over several years, in Pollino National Park, one of the darkest nighttime skies in Italy. It was then characterized by a group of astronomers with observations carried out using the 3.6 meter National Galileo Telescope (TNG) and the 10.4 meter Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), both of which are in the Canary Islands. The discovery was officially announced in a paper in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
Donatiello I is composed mainly of very old stars. Its diameter is about 1,450 light-years. It’s one of the most isolated of the known dwarf galaxies and is thought to be a companion of the lenticular, dwarf galaxy NGC 404, approximately 200,000 light-years from Donatiello I.
Image Details: Composite image obtained with public data from the ZTF DR1 survey (extended field), TNG and GTC. Celestial coordinates given as 01 11 40.153 +34 36 2.40; elaboration and composition by Giuseppe Donatiello.