[4][5] It is named after Beth Willman of Haverford College, the lead author of a study based on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey data.

[8] As of 2016, it is the third dimmest likely galaxy known, after Segue 1 and Virgo I, and is over ten million times less luminous than the Milky Way.

[3] A high mass to light ratio implies that Willman 1 is dominated by dark matter.

[3] The stellar population of Willman 1 consists mainly of old stars formed more than 10 billion years ago.

[11] The metallicity of these stars is also very low at [Fe/H] ≈ −2.1, which means that they contain 110 times less heavy elements than the Sun.