Fornax Dwarf [SEP] discoverer or inventor
Fornax Dwarf
The Fornax Dwarf Spheroidal is an elliptical dwarf galaxy in the constellation Fornax that was discovered in 1938 by Harlow Shapley. He discovered it while he was in South Africa on photographic plates taken by the 24 inch (61 cm) Bruce refractor at Boyden Observatory, shortly after he discovered the Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy.
The galaxy is a satellite of the Milky Way and contains six globular clusters; the largest, NGC 1049, was discovered before the galaxy itself. The galaxy is also receding from the Milky
. The color-magnitude diagram of Fornax 4 has a strong similarity to "young" galactic globular Ruprecht 106.
It is not known why spheroidals allow the formation of globular clusters like Fornax 4 and Terzan 7 (of Sagittarius dwarf) long after globular clusters ceased to form in the main body of the Galactic halo. Another possibility is that "young" globular clusters of the outer halo like Ruprecht 106 were originally formed in now defunct dwarf spheroidals.
External links.
- Fornax dSph
- Fornax Dwarf