[5] Being at the edge of the Local Group has also protected WLM from interactions and mergers with other galaxies, giving it a "pristine" stellar population and state that make it particularly useful for comparative studies.

[8] This high-resolution imagery, part of the Webb Early Release Science (ERS) program 1334 led by Kristen McQuinn of Rutgers University, reveals the structure and composition of WLM with remarkable clarity compared to previous observations by the Spitzer Space Telescope.

This makes it an excellent subject for studying star formation and evolution in environments that resemble the early stages of galactic development.

At the time the Lensman series was written, most astronomers favored the tidal theory of Solar System formation, which required that planets be formed by the close approach of another star.

In order to produce the massive numbers of planets necessary to evolve into galactic civilizations in both the Milky Way and Lundmark's Nebula, as portrayed in the Lensman series, E.E.

Smith thought it would have been necessary for another galaxy to have passed through the Milky Way to produce the large number of close encounters necessary to form so many planets.

The Doctor Who novel Synthespians™ by Craig Hinton refers to the New Earth Republic of the 101st Century and beyond, which spearheads a programme of colonisation, sending sleeper ships to the Wolf-Lundmark-Melotte galaxy and Andromeda.