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Space Object of the Week is a short little snippet of talking about, well, a random space object! It can be anything from dwarf planets, asteroids, nebulae, supernova remnants, wolf-rayet stars, or satellites. If it's in space, it has the chance of showing up here!

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"MIRACH'S GHOST" / "THE LOST PEARL GALAXY"


(Wikimedia Commons, Hubble Space Telescope)




This object has not one but two nicknames! Known to many astronomers as Mirach's Ghost (sick as hell nickname btw) from how hard it is to spot by itself, all thanks to the magnitute 10 (its BRIGHT) object sitting right next to it: Mirach! Or formally, Beta Andromeda. However, this object is also known as the Lost Pearl Galaxy.It sits right outside the local group of galaxies, roughly about 10 million light years out from Earth. It's currently classified as a lenticular, or S0 galaxy. And there is a possible satellite galaxy right next to NGC 404! in 2016, Italian astronomer Giuseppe Donatello was observing older photos he had taken of the region, finding a small, spheroid dwarf galaxy nearby NGC 404. It has been named Mirach's Goblin.

Last updated October 7th, 2025