Antlia II
Low surface-brightness dwarf satellite galaxy of the Milky Way
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Antlia II (Ant II) is a low-surface-brightness dwarf satellite galaxy of the Milky Way at a galactic latitude of 11.2°. It spans 1.26° in the sky just southeast of Epsilon Antliae. The galaxy is similar in size to the Large Magellanic Cloud, despite being 1/10,000 as bright. Antlia II has the lowest surface brightness of any galaxy discovered[4] and is ~ 100 times more diffuse than any known ultra diffuse galaxy.[1] The large size of the galaxy suggests that it is currently being tidally disrupted, and is in the process of becoming a stellar stream.[3] The southeast side of Antlia II is farther away than the northwest side, likely due to the tidal disruption.[2] It was discovered using data from the European Space Agency's Gaia spacecraft in November 2018.
| Antlia II | |
|---|---|
Illustration | |
| Observation data (J2000 epoch) | |
| Pronunciation | /ˈæntliə ... / |
| Constellation | Antlia |
| Right ascension | 9h 35m 32.832s[1] |
| Declination | -36° -46m -2.28s[1] |
| Distance | 405,000 ly (124.1 kpc)[2] |
| Group or cluster | Local Group |
| Absolute magnitude (V) | −9.86±0.08 mag[3] |
| Characteristics | |
| Type | Irr-T |
| Size | 11 kly |
| Half-light radius (physical) | 2.5 kpc[3] |
| Half-light radius (apparent) | 1.10° |
| Notable features | satellite of Milky Way |
| Other designations | |
| Antlia 2, Ant 2, Ant Il, UGC 49743, CGCG 49794-49.4794 | |
