Dwarf Galaxies:
A team of scientists in the US, led by Indian-origin astrophysicist Raga Deepika Pucha, recently discovered the largest samples of intermediate-mass black holes and dwarf galaxies with active black holes.
- They are small galaxies that typically contain just a few billion stars, unlike their larger cousins, which can hold hundreds of billions.
- They are the most abundant type of galaxy in the universe but are difficult to detect due to their low luminosity, low mass, and small size.
- They are most commonly found in galaxy clusters, often as companions to larger galaxies.
- Our Milky Way galaxy is orbited by more than 20 dwarf galaxies.
- They are thought to have been created by gravitational forces in the early stages of the creation of these larger galaxies, or as a result of collisions between galaxies, forming from streams of material and dark matter ejected from the parent galaxies.
- Because most of them come from galaxy collisions, many dwarf galaxies are grouped into irregular shapes.
- However, some dwarf galaxies have spiral arms or look like mini-elliptical galaxies.
