 IC-10 is another irregular galaxy. Edwin Hubble suspected it might belong to the local group of galaxies, but its status remained uncertain for decades. His membership in the group was finally confirmed in 1996 by direct measurements of its distance based on observations of Cepheids. The reason it took so long is that despite its closeness, the galaxy lies near the plane of the Milky Way and is therefore heavily obscured by our galaxy's interstellar matter.