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Lurking behind dust and stars near the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy, IC 10 is a mere 2.3
million light-years distant. Its light dimmed by the intervening dust, the irregular dwarf
galaxy still shows off vigorous star-forming regions that shine with a telltale reddish glow
in this colorful skyscape. In fact, also a member of the Local Group of galaxies, IC 10 is the
closest known starburst galaxy. Compared to other Local Group galaxies, IC 10 has a large
population of newly formed stars that are massive and intrinsically very bright, including
a luminous X-ray binary star system thought to contain a black hole. Located within the
boundaries of the northern constellation Cassiopeia, IC 10 is about
5,000 light-years across. [Text from APOD]
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