By Ron Cowen
From Seattle, at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society
A resident of the constellation Leo, the newly discovered galaxy called Leo T is only about 600 light-years across—about one-sixteenth the diameter of the Milky Way—and 50,000 times brighter than the sun. Some 1.4 million light-years from Earth, the galaxy lies far enough away that it’s not bound to the Milky Way but is still a member of the Local Group. That family of galaxies includes the Milky Way and Andromeda.