dwarf galaxy

American  

[dwawrf gal-uhk-see] / ˈdwɔrf ˌgæl ək si /

noun

dwarf galaxies plural

1. Astronomy. a comparatively small, dim galaxy containing relatively few stars for a galaxy.

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dwarf galaxy Scientific  

1. A small, dim galaxy, intermediate in size between a regular galaxy and a globular cluster. Like larger galaxies, dwarf galaxies are classified as elliptical, spiral, or irregular based on their shape. The closest known galaxy to the Milky Way is a dwarf galaxy in Canis Major that is believed to be losing stars to ours. Many astronomers think that most of the large galaxies seen today were formed either by collisions of dwarf galaxies, which formed first in the aftermath of the Big Bang, or by larger galaxies attracting material away from dwarf galaxies.

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• dwarf galaxies
  plural

Example Sentences

One possibility is that the Milky Way experienced a past encounter or collision with a smaller, dwarf galaxy, but further analysis is needed to confirm this.

From Science Daily • Oct. 22, 2025

Yet recent images captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope seem to contradict that notion by showing protoplanetary disks in a dwarf galaxy adjacent to our own Milky Way, the Small Magellanic Cloud.

From Salon • Dec. 21, 2024

Because of the optical haze in Nube, Dr. Montes said, astronomers can see the shape of the dark-matter halo that underlies the dwarf galaxy.

From New York Times • Jan. 26, 2024

SN1987A is sited a mere 170,000 light-years from us in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy adjacent to our own Milky Way Galaxy.

From BBC • Aug. 31, 2023

The new measurements suggest the dwarf galaxy may have formed billions of years after the big bang—much later than other galaxies close to ours.

From Scientific American • Mar. 24, 2023