IC 1613

dwarf irregular galaxy · Local Group

2.4 million light-years from Earth

Max Wolf found it in 1906. We see it through a clear patch of our own galaxy and it holds little dust, so astronomers use its stars to check the rungs of the cosmic distance ladder.

• 2.4 million light-years · found by Max Wolf in 1906
• as bright as about 90 million Suns

kind

galaxy

catalogue

IC 1613 · Caldwell 51

size

11,300 light-years across