Two galaxies relatively close to the Milky Way Galaxy , first detected in the late 1960s by the Italian astronomer Paolo Maffei.
Maffei I is a large elliptical galaxy, while Maffei II is a spiral galaxy. Though they are large and nearby, they are hidden in the Milky Way's zone of avoidance . At a distance of about 10 million light-years, they appear to be major members of one of the nearest galaxy groups outside the Local Group .