Pisces Dwarf is an irregular

Irregular galaxy

An irregular galaxy is a galaxy that does not have a distinct regular shape, like a spiral or an elliptical galaxy. The shape of an irregular galaxy is uncommon – they do not fall into any of the regular classes of the Hubble sequence, and they are often chaotic in appearance, with neither a...

  dwarf

Dwarf galaxy

A dwarf galaxy is a small galaxy composed of up to several billion stars, a small number compared to our own Milky Way's 200-400 billion stars...

 galaxy

Galaxy

A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and dust, and an important but poorly understood component tentatively dubbed dark matter. The word galaxy is derived from the Greek galaxias , literally "milky", a...

 that is part of the Local Group

Local Group

The Local Group is the group of galaxies that includes Earth's galaxy, the Milky Way. The group comprises more than 30 galaxies , with its gravitational center located somewhere between the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy...

. The galaxy is also suspected of being a satellite galaxy

Satellite galaxy

A satellite galaxy orbits a larger galaxy due to gravitational attraction. Although a galaxy is made of a large number of objects which are not connected to each other, it has a center of mass, which represents a weighted average of the positions of each component object...

 of the Triangulum Galaxy

Triangulum Galaxy

The Triangulum Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 3 million light years from Earth in the constellation Triangulum. It is catalogued as Messier 33 or NGC 598, and is sometimes informally referred to as the Pinwheel Galaxy, a nickname it shares with Messier 101...

 (M33). Because it is in the constellation

Constellation

In modern astronomy, a constellation is an internationally defined area of the celestial sphere. These areas are grouped around asterisms, patterns formed by prominent stars within apparent proximity to one another on Earth's night sky....

 Pisces

Pisces (constellation)

Pisces is a constellation of the zodiac. Its name is the Latin plural for fish, and its symbol is . It lies between Aquarius to the west and Aries to the east...

, the galaxy

Galaxy

A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and dust, and an important but poorly understood component tentatively dubbed dark matter. The word galaxy is derived from the Greek galaxias , literally "milky", a...

 is called the Pisces Dwarf. It displays a blueshift, as it is approaching the Milky Way

Milky Way

The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System. This name derives from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky...

 at 287 km/s. It may be transition-type galaxy, somewhere between dwarf spheroidal

Dwarf spheroidal galaxy

Dwarf spheroidal galaxy is a term in astronomy applied to low luminosity galaxies that are companions to the Milky Way and to the similar systems that are companions to the Andromeda Galaxy M31...

 and dwarf irregular. Alternatively, it may be a rare, but statistically acceptable, version of one of the two types.

Star Formation History

A study of the star formation history conducted by Miller et al. 2001 provide much information on how this galaxy developed. Apparently, the star formation rate in the Pisces Dwarf has been declining for the past 10 billion years. Most of the galaxy's stars were formed in its early years, about 8 billion years ago. The Miller study has also shown that there has been no significant star formation for the past 100 million years. Hence, most of the stars that populate this galaxy are old, metal-rich stars aged about 2.5 billion years. But there are small clusters of young, hot, blue stars on the outer areas of the galaxy.