Two dim dwarf galaxies found near our Milky Way

The two newly detected dwarfs were found in the direction of the constellations Canes Venatici (the hunting dogs) and Bootes (the herdsman), scientists studying the Sloan Digital Sky Survey said in a statement.

The little galaxy found in Canes Venatici is about 640,000 light-years from the Sun, a stone's throw in cosmic terms. A light-year is about 6 trillion miles, the distance light travels in a year. The dwarf found in Bootes is about the same distance from the Sun.

Even though they are close, these galaxies were hard to spot because they were so dim, a defining characteristic of dwarf galaxies. The new galaxy in Bootes is the faintest discovered, with a total luminosity of 100,000 Suns.