Her studies reveal a possible evolutionary link between more massive galaxies and the least massive dwarf galaxies known. These results are of special interest since these dwarf galaxies are considered ancient building blocks of galaxies such as our own Milky Way. The recently discovered, dim dwarf spheroidal galaxy Peg dSph, which is hiding behind bright foreground stars. Peg dSph is a member of the class of the lowest-mass dwarf galaxies known and a companion of the massive spiral galaxy Andromeda at a distance of 2.5 million lightyears from us. The evolution of Peg dSph was probably affected by the gravitational pull and ram pressure effects from Andromeda, from which it is separated by 880,000 light years.
Dwarf galaxies are small, dim galaxies that contain many fewer stars than our Milky Way.
Like chicks around a hen they tend to cluster around high-mass galaxies, but rather than being its offspring they were usually born at the same time. The larger galaxies are thought to have consumed many of their lesser siblings, making today's dwarfs survivors of an earlier much richer dwarf population. 69117 Heidelberg, Germany Tel.