Triangulum II
Galaxy in the constellation Triangulum
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Triangulum II (Tri II or Laevens 2) is a dwarf galaxy close to the Milky Way Galaxy. Like other dwarf spheroidal galaxies, its stellar population is very old: the galaxy was quenched before 11.5 billion years ago.[2] It contains only 1000 stars, yet is quite massive, having a solar mass to light ratio of 3600.[3] This is an unusually high mass for such a small galaxy.[4]
| Triangulum II | |
|---|---|
| Observation data (J2000 epoch) | |
| Constellation | Triangulum |
| Right ascension | 02h 13m 17.4s[1] |
| Declination | +36° 10′ 42.4″[1] |
| Distance | 97.8 ± 6.5 kly (30 ± 2 kpc)[1] |
| Characteristics | |
| Mass/Light ratio | 3600 (V)[1] M☉/L☉ |
| Apparent size (V) | 3.9′[1] |
| Other designations | |
| Triangulum II, Tri II, Laevens 2, Lae 2 | |
The distance from the centre of the Milky Way is 26 kpc (85 kly). The luminosity is 450 times that of the Sun.[3] This makes it one of the dimmest known galaxies.[3] The 2D half light radius is 34 pc (110 ly). The galaxy was discovered in images taken by Pan-STARRS by Benjamin P. M. Laevens in 2015.[1][3]
Triangulum II is a candidate for detecting WIMPs as a source of dark matter.[4]
