IC 1613 is an irregular dwarf galaxy in Cetus, near the star 26 Cet. It similar to, but much smaller and less luminous than, the Magellanic Clouds.
This object was discovered by Max Wolf in 1906. J. L. E. Dreyer describes it in the Index Catalog as "faint and extremely large". IC 1613 has a visual magnitude of 9.2, and apparent dimensions of 20.0' x 18.5'.
IC 1613 was one of the first galaxies to be recognized as a member of the Local Group (by Walter Baade in 1928) because it could be resolved into individual stars. Baade estimated it to be at a distance comparable to that of NGC 6822.
For a long time, no star clusters were found in this dwarf irregular galaxy. As first remarked upon by Baade in 1950, the puzzle was only solved in 1978, when about 43 tiny objects were found. Of these, 25 are probably very small star clusters. Eleven timy dust clouds have been discovered in IC 1613, and background galaxies can be seen through it as well - an indication that only small amounts of dust exist within it. Why the galaxy's interstellar dust is so sparse, and its clusters are so small, remains a mystery.
As a member of our Local Group, IC 1613 has played an important role in the calibration of the Cepheid variable period-luminosity relation. Other than the Magellanic Clouds, it is the only Local Group dwarf irregular galaxy where RR Lyrae-type variables have been observed. The Cepheid variables observed IC 1613 imply that it is about 2.8 million light-years away. It therefore has a total luminosity of about 130 million suns, and a diameter of 16,000 light-years. It is approaching us at 234 km/sec.
In 1999, astronomers used the Hubble Space Telescope to find that the dominant stellar population of this galaxy has an age of about 7 billion years. There are more faint dwarf galaxies in space than any other type, but their presence is certainly not pronounced.