This small irregular barred galaxy in Sagittarius, likely to be a companion of our galaxy, was discovered in 1884 by the American astronomer Edward Barnard. It is around 1.6 miillion lightyears distant and 7000 lightyears in size, a smaller version of the Small Magellanic Cloud.
There are numerous areas of emission nebulae and the galaxy is thought to have experienced two intense periods of star formation, around two billion years apart. These were perhaps triggered by interactions with other members of our Local Group of galaxies.
This image is the result of 1h 25m of remote data capture from New Mexico, over two evenings in July 2021. A Planewave 20-inch CDK reflector was used, with an FLI ProLine PL11002M CCD camera.
Date: 30/07/2021
Photographer: Graham Wilcock
