OTHER GALAXIES AND

PLANETS
Introduction
 The closest known galaxy to us is the Canis Major
Dwarf Galaxy, at 236,000,000,000,000,000 km (25,000
light years) from the Sun.
 The Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy is the next
closest , at 662,000,000,000,000,000 km (70,000 light
years) from the Sun.
 The Large Magellanic Cloud,
1,690,000,000,000,000,000 km (179,000 light years)
away, was once considered the nearest galaxy outside of
the Milky Way.
 The Small Magellanic Cloud is
Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy
 Discovered in 2003
 This galaxy is also being pulled apart by the Milky
Way's gravity - as it orbits the Milky Way, it is
leaving a long filament of stars, gas, and dust in its
wake.
 This 200,000 light year-long filament is known as the
Monoceros Ring, and actually wraps three times
around our galaxy!
 The Canis Major Dwarf galaxy was discovered in
the course of the investigation of this Ring, which
Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy
 Discovered in 1994
 It wasn't discovered until 1994, because it is very dim, and
because it was obscured by the central part of our galaxy
 Though this galaxy is quite big (about 10,000 light years
across), it will likely be disrupted by the tidal forces from
the Milky Way Galaxy. (For comparison, our galaxy is
100,000 light years across.)
 The SagDEG is on the other side of the Milky Way from
the Sun, about 70,000 light years away. It is 50,000 light
years away from the center of the Milky Way - it is so
close to us, that some of the SagDEG's stars are actually in
The Large and Small Magellanic Cloud,
 The Magellanic clouds were known by ancient
southern astronomers, but these people produced
little documentation. It was Magellan, on his trip
around the world in 1519, who brought them to our
knowledge.