It was discovered in 1937 by American astronomer Harlow Shapley using the 24-inch Bruce refractor at Boyden Observatory.

[7] The metallicity of Sculptor dwarf appears to be broken up into two distinct groups, one with [Fe/H] = −2.3 and the other with [Fe/H] = −1.5.

[9] Using cosmological numerical simulations, it has been recently argued that Sculptor's two distinct stellar populations would be the tell-tale sign of a past merger between Sculptor and another small dwarf galaxy companion.

[10] The Sculptor Dwarf is home to the most metal-poor star outside of the Milky Way, known as AS0039, with a metallicity of [Fe/H] = −4.11.

Unlike other known metal-poor stars, it has a low carbon abundance and an unusual ratio of alpha elements, suggesting it may have been formed in the aftermath of a Population III star hypernova.