Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy
E21591
The Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy is a nearby, faint irregular dwarf galaxy thought to be the closest known satellite galaxy to the Milky Way and currently being tidally disrupted by it.
All labels observed (4)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy canonical | 8 |
| Canis Major Dwarf | 1 |
| Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy (line-of-sight) | 1 |
| Canis Major Overdensity | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T156309 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy Context triple: [Milky Way, hasSatellite, Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy]
-
A.
Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy
The Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy is a small, elongated satellite galaxy currently being tidally disrupted and absorbed by the Milky Way.
-
B.
Large Magellanic Cloud
The Large Magellanic Cloud is a nearby irregular dwarf galaxy visible from the Southern Hemisphere and notable for its role in studies of galaxy formation, stellar evolution, and the cosmic distance scale.
-
C.
Small Magellanic Cloud
The Small Magellanic Cloud is a nearby dwarf irregular galaxy visible from the Southern Hemisphere and one of the closest galactic neighbors to the Milky Way.
-
D.
Triangulum Galaxy
The Triangulum Galaxy is a nearby spiral galaxy in the Local Group, notable as one of the closest large galaxies to the Milky Way and a companion to the Andromeda Galaxy.
-
E.
Andromeda Galaxy
The Andromeda Galaxy is the nearest large spiral galaxy to the Milky Way and is on a collision course to eventually merge with it.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy Target entity description: The Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy is a nearby, faint irregular dwarf galaxy thought to be the closest known satellite galaxy to the Milky Way and currently being tidally disrupted by it.
-
A.
Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy
The Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy is a small, elongated satellite galaxy currently being tidally disrupted and absorbed by the Milky Way.
-
B.
Large Magellanic Cloud
The Large Magellanic Cloud is a nearby irregular dwarf galaxy visible from the Southern Hemisphere and notable for its role in studies of galaxy formation, stellar evolution, and the cosmic distance scale.
-
C.
Small Magellanic Cloud
The Small Magellanic Cloud is a nearby dwarf irregular galaxy visible from the Southern Hemisphere and one of the closest galactic neighbors to the Milky Way.
-
D.
Triangulum Galaxy
The Triangulum Galaxy is a nearby spiral galaxy in the Local Group, notable as one of the closest large galaxies to the Milky Way and a companion to the Andromeda Galaxy.
-
E.
Andromeda Galaxy
The Andromeda Galaxy is the nearest large spiral galaxy to the Milky Way and is on a collision course to eventually merge with it.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
dwarf galaxy
ⓘ
irregular galaxy ⓘ satellite galaxy of the Milky Way ⓘ stellar overdensity ⓘ |
| abbreviation |
2MASS
ⓘ
linked to:
Two Micron All Sky Survey
|
| alternativeName |
CMa Dwarf
ⓘ
CMa Overdensity ⓘ Canis Major Overdensity ⓘ
linked to:
Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy
|
| apparentBrightness | very faint ⓘ |
| associatedStructure | Monoceros Ring stellar stream ⓘ |
| constellation | Canis Major ⓘ |
| contains |
M-giant stars
ⓘ
red giant stars ⓘ |
| discoveredBy |
Gérard F. Gilmore
ⓘ
Mike J. Irwin ⓘ
linked to:
Michael J. Irwin
Rodrigo A. Ibata ⓘ |
| discoveredUsing | Two Micron All Sky Survey ⓘ |
| discoveryYear | 2003 ⓘ |
| distanceFromGalacticCenter | approximately 42,000 light-years ⓘ |
| distanceFromMilkyWay | approximately 25,000 light-years from the Sun ⓘ |
| dynamicalState | being tidally disrupted ⓘ |
| formsStructure | Monoceros Ring ⓘ |
| galacticHemisphere | southern Galactic hemisphere ⓘ |
| galaxyType | dwarf irregular ⓘ |
| hostGalaxy | Milky Way ⓘ |
| impactOnMilkyWay |
contributes stars to the outer Galactic disk
ⓘ
may influence the structure of the Galactic warp ⓘ |
| locationRelativeToMilkyWay | in the Galactic disk region ⓘ |
| locationRelativeToSun | behind the Galactic plane ⓘ |
| luminosityClass | low-luminosity ⓘ |
| massEstimate | on the order of 10^8 solar masses ⓘ |
| metallicity | metal-poor compared to the Sun ⓘ |
| morphologicalType | irregular ⓘ |
| name | Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy ⓘ |
| observationalChallenge |
confusion with Milky Way disk stars
ⓘ
obscured by dust in the Galactic plane ⓘ |
| observedIn |
infrared wavelengths
ⓘ
optical wavelengths ⓘ |
| orbitalStatus | in a decaying orbit around the Milky Way ⓘ |
| relevance | candidate for the closest known satellite galaxy of the Milky Way ⓘ |
| researchField |
galactic archaeology
ⓘ
near-field cosmology ⓘ |
| satelliteOf | Milky Way ⓘ |
| scientificDebate | nature and distinctness as a separate galaxy are debated ⓘ |
| stellarPopulation | predominantly old stars ⓘ |
| surveyBand | near-infrared ⓘ |
| tidalDebris | stars spread along its orbit ⓘ |
| tidalInteractionWith | Milky Way ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy Description of subject: The Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy is a nearby, faint irregular dwarf galaxy thought to be the closest known satellite galaxy to the Milky Way and currently being tidally disrupted by it.
Referenced by (11)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy
linked to: Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy
subject linked to:
Local Group galaxies