Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 August 2015
Galaxies are like people. When you get to know one well it always turns out to be peculiar in some way or other. In many cases such peculiarities appear to be inherent whereas in others they seem to result from the environment in which a galaxy has evolved. Very few galaxies live in total isolation; most are members of cluster families. The purpose of the the present paper is to introduce the known members of the Local Group to you in the hope that a closer acquaintance with our closest relatives in space will ultimately lead to a deeper understanding of the structure and evolution of our own Milky Way system.