Carina Dwarf



The Carina Dwarf Spheroidal is a dwarf galaxy in the Carina constellation. It was discovered in 1977 with the UK Schmidt Telescope by Cannon et al. The Carina Dwarf is receding from the Milky Way at 230 km/s and is a satellite galaxy to the Milky Way. The galaxy may also be referred to as ESO 206-G20 or PGC 19441. It appears to have formed several billion years after the formation of the other satellite galaxies of the Milky Way as its older stars are younger than 7 billion years. This makes it a relatively youthful galaxy when compared to the Milky Way, which is estimated to have formed 13.6 billion years ago, or nearly as old as the Universe itself. It probably has a complex star formation history, with three possible distinct bursts of star formation. It is also being tidally disrupted by the Milky Way galaxy.