View text source at Wikipedia
Sextans Dwarf Spheroidal | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Observation data (J2000 epoch) | |
Constellation | Sextans |
Right ascension | 10h 13m 02.9s[1] |
Declination | −01° 36′ 53″[1] |
Redshift | 224 ± 2 km/s[1] |
Distance | 290 ± 30 kly (90 ± 10 kpc)[2][3] |
Apparent magnitude (V) | 10.4[1] |
Characteristics | |
Type | dSph[1] |
Apparent size (V) | 30.0′ × 12.0′[1] |
Notable features | satellite galaxy of the Milky Way |
Other designations | |
Sextans I,[1] LEDA 88608[1] |
The Sextans Dwarf Spheroidal is a dwarf spheroidal galaxy that was discovered in 1990 by Mike Irwin as the 8th satellite of the Milky Way,[4] located in the constellation of Sextans. It is also an elliptical galaxy, and displays a redshift because it is receding from the Sun at 224 km/s (72 km/s from the Galaxy). The distance to the galaxy is 320,000 light-years and the diameter is 8,400 light-years along its major axis.[5]
Like other dwarf spheroidal galaxies, the Sextans Dwarf's population consists of old, metal-poor stars: one study found that the majority of stars have a metallicity between [Fe/H] = −3.2 and −1.4. An analysis of several stars found them to also be deficient in barium, except for one star.[6]