IC 1613

IC 1613 is a member of the Local Group. It is an irregular dwarf galaxy. Max Wolf discovered it in 1906.

IC 1613 is one of the few Local Group irregular galaxies that contain RR Lyrae-type variables. It has played a significant role in the calibration of the Cepheid variable period-luminosity relation for distance estimation. One of the reasons why IC 1613 played an important role is that it contains very little cosmic dust which makes its contents very clear.

It is located about 2.3 million LY from earth. Its magnitude is 9.4.

The bright region on the upper left side of IC 1613 in the image is a starburst region that is less than 20 million years old.