Scientists discover smallest galaxy ever seen: 'It's like having a perfectly functional human being that's the size of a grain of rice'

image via Space.com

March 12, 2025, 9:00 AM

• •Astronomers have discovered a collection of tiny galaxies located roughly 3 million light-years away that includes the smallest and faintest galaxy ever seen.
• •This galaxy, designated Andromeda XXXV, and its compatriots orbiting our neighbor galaxy, Andromeda, could change how we think about cosmic evolution.
• •The team's research was published on Tuesday (March 11) in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Astronomers have discovered the smallest and faintest galaxy ever seen. This galaxy, designated Andromeda XXXV, is located roughly 3 million light-years away and is orbiting our neighbor galaxy, Andromeda. Andromeda XXXV is so small that it should have been destroyed in the hotter and denser conditions of the early universe, but somehow it survived. This discovery could change how we think about cosmic evolution.

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