Satellite galaxies of the Milky Way - wikipedia Satellite galaxies of the Milky Way The Milky Way has several smaller galaxies gravitationally bound to it, as part of the Milky Way subgroup, which is part of the local galaxy cluster, the Local Group. There are 59 small galaxies confirmed to be within 420 kiloparsecs ( 1.4 million light - years ) of the Milky Way, but not all of them are necessarily in orbit, and some may themselves be in orbit of other satellite galaxies. The only ones visible to the naked eye are the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, which have been observed since prehistory. Measurements with the Hubble Space Telescope in 2006 suggest the Magellanic Clouds may be moving too fast to be orbiting the Milky Way. Of the galaxies confirmed to be in orbit, the largest is the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy, which has a diameter of 2.6 kiloparsecs ( 8,500 ly ) or roughly a fifth that of the Milky Way. Contents 1 Characteristics 2 List 3 Map with Clickable Regions 4 Streams 5 See also 6 Footnotes 7 References 8 Further reading Characteristics Satellite galaxies that orbit from 1,000 ly ( 310 pc ) of the edge of the disc of the Milky Way Galaxy to the edge of the dark matter halo of the Milky Way at 980 × 10 ^ ly ( 300 kpc ) from the center of the galaxy, are generally depleted in hydrogen gas compared to those that orbit more distantly. The reason is the dense hot gas halo of the Milky Way, which strips cold gas from the satellites. Satellites beyond that region still retain copious quantities of gas. List The Milky Way 's satellite galaxies include the following : Name Diameter ( kpc ) Distance ( kpc ) Absolute magnitude Type Discovered Large Magellanic Cloud 48.5 - 18.1 SBm prehistoric Sagittarius Dwarf 2.6 20 - 13.5 Crater II 117.5 - 8.2 dSph 2016 Small Magellanic Cloud 61 - 16.8 Irr prehistoric Canes Venatici I 220 - 8.6 dSph 2006 Canis Major Dwarf 1.5 8 Irr 2003 Boötes III 1.0 46 dSph ? 2009 Sculptor Dwarf 0.8 90 - 11.1 dE3 1937 Draco Dwarf 0.7 80 - 8.8 dE0 1954 Hercules 0.7 135 - 6.6 dSph 2006 Leo II 0.7 210 - 9.8 dE0 1950 Fornax Dwarf 0.6 140 - 13.4 dE2 1938 Eridanus II 0.55 366 - 7.1 dSph 2015 Sextans Dwarf Spheroidal 0.5 90 - 9.3 dE3 Carina Dwarf Spheroidal 0.5 100 - 9.1 dE3 1977 Leo I 0.5 250 - 12.0 dE3 1950 Ursa Minor Dwarf 0.4 60 - 8.8 dE4 1954 Indus II 0.36 214 - 4.3 dSph ? 2015 Leo T 0.34 420 - 8.0 dSph / dIrr 2006 Aquarius II 0.32 108 - 4.2 dSph 2016 Boötes I 0.30 60 - 6.3 dSph 2006 Canes Venatici II 0.30 155 - 4.9 dSph 2006 Leo IV 0.30 160 - 5.8 dSph 2006 Tucana IV 0.25 48 - 3.5 dSph 2015 Columba I 0.21 182 - 4.5 dSph 2015 Ursa Major II Dwarf 0.20 30 dG D 2006 Grus II 0.19 53 - 3.9 dSph 2015 Cetus III 0.18 251 - 2.4 dSph ? 2017 Coma Berenices 0.14 42 - 4.1 dSph 2006 Hydra II 0.14 128 - 4.8 dSph 2015 Reticulum III 0.13 92 - 3.3 dSph 2015 Pisces II 0.12 180 - 5.0 dSph Pegasus III 0.11 215 - 3.4 dSph 2015 Boötes II 0.10 42 - 2.7 dSph 2007 Tucana III 0.09 25 - 2.4 dSph 2015 Virgo 0.09 91 - 0.3 dSph ? 2016 Horologium II 0.09 78 - 2.6 dSph 2015 Sagittarius II 0.08 67 - 5.2 dSph 2015 Leo V 0.08 180 - 5.2 dSph 2007 Triangulum II 0.07 30 - 1.8 dSph 2015 Segue 2 0.07 35 - 2.5 dSph 2007 Segue 1 0.06 23 - 1.5 dSph 2007 Crater / Laevens I 0.06 145 GC 2014 Draco II 0.04 20 - 2.9 dSph 2015 Tucana V 0.03 55 - 1.6 dSph 2015 Cetus II 0.03 30 0.0 dSph ? 2015 Reticulum II - 30 - 3.6 dSph 2015 Tucana II - 70 - 3.9 dSph 2015 Pisces I - 80 dSph ? 2009 DES - 82 GC 2016 Eridanus III - 90 - 2.4 dSph ? 2015 Horologium I - 100 - 3.5 dSph ? 2015 Kim 2 / Indus I - 100 GC 2015 Phoenix II - 100 - 3.7 dSph ? 2015 Ursa Major I Dwarf - 100 - 5.5 dG D 2005 Pictoris - 115 - 3.7 dSph ? 2015 Grus I - 120 - 3.4 dSph 2015 Carina II ( dwarf galaxy ) 0.182 36 - 4.5 dSph 2018 Carina III ( dwarf galaxy ) 0.06 28 - 2.4 GC ? 2018 Map with Clickable Regions Milky Way 's satellite galaxies ( clickable map ) Streams The Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy is currently in the process of being consumed by the Milky Way and is expected to pass through it within the next 100 million years. The Sagittarius Stream is a stream of stars in polar orbit around the Milky Way leeched from the Sagittarius Dwarf. The Virgo Stellar Stream is a stream of stars that is believed to have once been an orbiting dwarf galaxy that has been completely distended by the Milky Way 's gravity. See also List of Andromeda 's satellite galaxies List of nearest galaxies Local Group Footnotes Jump up ^ The distance to edge of the dark matter halo of the galaxy from its center is the virial radius of a galaxy, R ^ Jump up to : May be a globular cluster instead References Jump up ^ David G. Turner ( 15 August 2013 ). `` An Eclectic View of our Milky Way Galaxy ''. Canadian Journal of Physics ( published September 2013 ). 92 ( 9 ) : 959 -- 963. arXiv : 1310.0014. Bibcode : 2014CaJPh... 92... 959T. doi : 10.1139 / cjp - 2013 - 0429. Jump up ^ `` Press release : Magellanic Clouds May Be Just Passing Through ''. Harvard University. January 9, 2007. Jump up ^ Karachentsev, I.D. ; Karachentseva, V.E. ; Hutchmeier, W.K. ; Makarov, D.I. ( 2004 ). `` A Catalog of Neighboring Galaxies ''. The Astronomical Journal. 127 ( 4 ) : 2031 -- 2068. Bibcode : 2004AJ... 127.2031 K. doi : 10.1086 / 382905. Jump up ^ `` Milky Way Ransacks Nearby Dwarf Galaxies ''. SpaceDaily. 17 October 2014. Jump up ^ `` Milky Way ransacks nearby dwarf galaxies ''. ScienceDaily. 15 October 2014. Jump up ^ Nils Sjölander. `` Milky Way Satellite Galaxies ''. Archived from the original on 2014 - 02 - 19. Jump up ^ G. Torrealba, S.E. Koposov, V. Belokurov & M. Irwin ( 13 April 2016 ). `` The feeble giant. Discovery of a large and diffuse Milky Way dwarf galaxy in the constellation of Crater ''. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 459 ( 3 ) : 2370 -- 2378. Bibcode : 2016MNRAS. tmp... 635T. doi : 10.1093 / mnras / stw733. CS1 maint : Multiple names : authors list ( link ) Jump up ^ Crnojević, D. ; Sand, D.J. ; Zaritsky, D. ; Spekkens, K. ; Willman, B. ; Hargis, J.R. ( 2016 ). `` DEEP IMAGING OF ERIDANUS II AND ITS LONE STAR CLUSTER ''. The Astrophysical Journal. 824 : L14. arXiv : 1604.08590. Bibcode : 2016ApJ... 824L... 14C. doi : 10.3847 / 2041 - 8205 / 824 / 1 / L14. ^ Jump up to : Sergey E. Koposov ; Vasily Belokurov ; Gabriel Torrealba ; N. Wyn Evans ( 10 March 2015 ). `` Beasts of the Southern Wild. Discovery of a large number of Ultra Faint satellites in the vicinity of the Magellanic Clouds ''. The Astrophysical Journal. 805 ( 2 ) : 130. arXiv : 1503.02079. Bibcode : 2015ApJ... 805... 130K. doi : 10.1088 / 0004 - 637X / 805 / 2 / 130. ^ Jump up to : DES Collaboration ( 10 March 2015 ). `` Eight New Milky Way Companions Discovered in First - Year Dark Energy Survey Data ''. The Astrophysical Journal. 807 : 50. arXiv : 1503.02584. Bibcode : 2015ApJ... 807... 50B. doi : 10.1088 / 0004 - 637X / 807 / 1 / 50. ^ Jump up to : A. Drlica - Wagner ; et al. ( 4 November 2015 ). `` Eight ultra-faint galaxy candidates discovered in Year Two of the Dark Energy Survey ''. The Astrophysical Journal. 813 ( 2 ) : 109. arXiv : 1508.03622. Bibcode : 2015ApJ... 813... 109D. doi : 10.1088 / 0004 - 637X / 813 / 2 / 109. Jump up ^ Torrealba, G. ; Koposov, S.E. ; Belokurov, V. ; Irwin, M. ; Collins, M. ; Spencer, M. ; Ibata, R. ; Matteo, M. ; Bonaca, A. ; Jethwa, P. ( 2016 ). `` At the survey limits : discovery of the Aquarius 2 dwarf galaxy in the VST ATLAS and the SDSS data ''. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 463 : 712 -- 722. arXiv : 1605.05338 ( astro-ph.GA ). Bibcode : 2016MNRAS. 463... 712T. doi : 10.1093 / mnras / stw2051. ^ Jump up to : Homma, Daisuke ; Chiba, Masashi ; Okamoto, Sakurako ; Komiyama, Yutaka ; Tanaka, Masayuki ; Tanaka, Mikito ; Ishigaki, Miho N. ; Hayashi, Kohei ; Arimoto, Nobuo ( 2017 - 04 - 19 ). `` Searches for New Milky Way Satellites from the First Two Years of Data of the Subaru / Hyper Suprime - Cam Survey : Discovery of Cetus III ''. Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan. 70. arXiv : 1704.05977. doi : 10.1093 / pasj / psx050. Jump up ^ Martin, Nicolas F. ; et al. ( Survey of the Magellanic Stellar History ) ( 23 April 2015 ). `` HYDRA II : A FAINT AND COMPACT MILKY WAY DWARF GALAXY FOUND IN THE SURVEY OF THE MAGELLANIC STELLAR HISTORY ''. The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 804 ( 1 ) : L5. arXiv : 1503.06216. Bibcode : 2015ApJ... 804L... 5M. doi : 10.1088 / 2041 - 8205 / 804 / 1 / L5. Jump up ^ Kim, Dongwon ; Jerjen, Helmut ; Mackey, Dougal ; Da Costa, Gary S. ; Milone, Antonino P. ( 12 May 2015 ). `` A HERO 'S DARK HORSE : DISCOVERY OF AN ULTRA-FAINT MILKY WAY SATELLITE IN PEGASUS ''. The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 804 ( 2 ) : L44. arXiv : 1503.08268. Bibcode : 2015ApJ... 804L... 44K. doi : 10.1088 / 2041 - 8205 / 804 / 2 / L44. Jump up ^ Kim, Dongwon ; Jerjen, Helmut ; Geha, Marla ; Chiti, Anirudh ; Milone, Antonino P. ; Mackey, Dougal ; da Costa, Gary ; Frebel, Anna ; Conn, Blair ( 2016 ). `` PORTRAIT OF A DARK HORSE : PHOTOMETRIC PROPERTIES AND KINEMATICS OF THE ULTRA-FAINT MILKY WAY SATELLITE PEGASUS III ''. The Astrophysical Journal. 833 : 16. arXiv : 1608.04934 ( astro-ph.GA ). Bibcode : 2016ApJ... 833... 16K. doi : 10.3847 / 0004 - 637X / 833 / 1 / 16. Jump up ^ Dongwon Kim & Helmut Jerjen ( 28 July 2015 ). `` Horologium II : A second ultra-faint Milky Way satellite in the Horologium constellation ''. The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 808 ( 2 ) : L39. arXiv : 1505.04948. Bibcode : 2015ApJ... 808L... 39K. doi : 10.1088 / 2041 - 8205 / 808 / 2 / L39. ^ Jump up to : Laevens, B.P.M ; Martin, N.F. ; Bernard, E.J. ; Schlafly, E.F. ; Sesar, B. ( 1 November 2015 ). `` SAGITTARIUS II, DRACO II AND LAEVENS 3 : THREE NEW MILKY WAY SATELLITES DISCOVERED IN THE PAN-STARRS 1 3π SURVEY ''. The Astrophysical Journal. 813 ( 1 ) : 44. arXiv : 1507.07564. Bibcode : 2015ApJ... 813... 44L. doi : 10.1088 / 0004 - 637X / 813 / 1 / 44. Jump up ^ Voggel, Karina ; Hilker, Michael ; Baumgardt, Holger ; Collins, Michelle L.M. ; Grebel, Eva K. ; Husemann, Bernd ; Richtler, Tom ; Frank, Matthias J. ( 2016 ). `` Probing the boundary between star clusters and dwarf galaxies : A MUSE view on the dynamics of Crater / Laevens I ''. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 460 ( 3 ) : 3384 -- 3397. arXiv : 1604.06806 ( astro - ph ). Bibcode : 2016MNRAS. 460.3384 V. doi : 10.1093 / mnras / stw1132. Jump up ^ Benjamin P.M. Laevens ; et al. ( 8 April 2014 ). `` A NEW DISTANT MILKY WAY GLOBULAR CLUSTER IN THE PAN-STARRS1 3π SURVEY ''. The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 786 ( 1 ) : L3. arXiv : 1403.6593. Bibcode : 2014ApJ... 786L... 3L. doi : 10.1088 / 2041 - 8205 / 786 / 1 / L3. Jump up ^ V. Belokurov, M.J. Irwin, S.E. Koposov, N.W. Evans, E. Gonzalez - Solares, N. Metcalfe and T. Shanks ( 1 July 2014 ). `` ATLAS lifts the Cup : discovery of a new Milky Way satellite in Crater ''. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 441 ( 3 ) : 2124 -- 2133. arXiv : 1403.3406. Bibcode : 2014MNRAS. 441.2124 B. doi : 10.1093 / mnras / stu626. CS1 maint : Multiple names : authors list ( link ) Jump up ^ E. Luque ; et al. ( 9 February 2016 ). `` Digging deeper into Southern skies : a compact Milky Way companion discovered in first - year Dark Energy Survey data ''. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 458 ( 1 ) : 603 -- 612. arXiv : 1508.02381. Bibcode : 2016MNRAS. 458... 603L. doi : 10.1093 / mnras / stw302. ^ Jump up to : Torrealba, G. ; Belokurov, V. ; Koposov, S.E. ; Bechtol, K. ; Drlica - Wagner, A. ; Olsen, K.A.G. ; Vivas, A.K. ; Yanny, B. ; Jethwa, P. ( 2018 - 01 - 22 ). `` Discovery of two neighboring satellites in the Carina constellation with MagLiteS ''. arXiv : 1801.07279 ( astro-ph.GA ). Further reading K. Spekkens ; N. Urbancic ; B.S. Mason ; B. Willman ; J.E. Aguirre ( 30 September 2014 ). `` The Dearth of Neutral Hydrogen in Galactic Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies ''. The Astrophysical Journal Letters ( published 13 October 2014 ). 795 ( 1 ) : L5. arXiv : 1410.0028. Bibcode : 2014ApJ... 795L... 5S. doi : 10.1088 / 2041 - 8205 / 795 / 1 / L5. The Milky Way Location Milky Way → Milky Way subgroup → Local Group → Virgo Supercluster → Laniakea Supercluster → Observable universe → Universe Each arrow ( → ) may be read as `` within '' or `` part of ''. Galactic core Center of the Milky Way Sagittarius A Sagittarius A * Supermassive black hole Spiral arms Carina -- Sagittarius Norma -- Cygnus Orion -- Cygnus Perseus Scutum -- Centaurus Satellite galaxies Magellanic Clouds Large Magellanic Cloud Small Magellanic Cloud Magellanic Stream Magellanic Bridge Sagittarius Spheroidal Sagittarius Stream Boötes II Coma Berenices Messier 54 Palomar 12 Segue 1 Segue 2 Terzan 7 Dwarfs Boötes I Boötes III Canes Venatici I Canes Venatici II Canis Major Carina Crater 2 Draco Fornax Hercules Leo I Leo II Leo IV Leo V Leo T Phoenix Pisces I Pisces II Sculptor Sextans Triangulum II Ursa Major I Ursa Major II Ursa Minor Virgo I Other Monoceros Ring Virgo Stream Koposov I Koposov II Segue 3 Willman 1 Related Andromeda -- Milky Way collision Astronomy portal Earth 's location in the Universe Included Earth → Solar System → Local Interstellar Cloud → Local Bubble → Gould Belt → Orion Arm → Milky Way → Milky Way subgroup → Local Group → Virgo Supercluster → Laniakea Supercluster → Observable universe → Universe Each arrow ( → ) may be read as `` within '' or `` part of ''. Related `` Cosmic View '' ( 1957 essay ) To the Moon and Beyond ( 1964 film ) Cosmic Zoom ( 1968 film ) Powers of Ten ( 1968 and 1977 films ) Cosmic Voyage ( 1996 documentary ) Cosmic Eye ( 2012 ) Astronomy portal - Cosmology portal Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Satellite_galaxies_of_the_Milky_Way&oldid=829633494 '' Categories : Milky Way Subgroup Local Group Hidden categories : CS1 maint : Multiple names : authors list Talk Contents About Wikipedia Afrikaans Boarisch Català Deutsch Ελληνικά Français 한국어 Italiano 日本 語 Português Русский Simple English Slovenčina தமிழ் Türkçe 中文 8 more Edit links This page was last edited on 9 March 2018, at 20 : 44. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: two possible satellite galaxies of the milky way galaxy are the
Answer: Large Magellanic Cloud