Did any one read in todays Universe Today about the discovery? Russian scientists from the Special Astrophysical Observatory, using the Hubble, discovered KKs3, a dwarf galaxy 7 million light years away. From the article it says that these dwarf galaxies are hard to detect due to the lack of gas and dust and must be found by identifying individual stars.

I don't know a lot about astronomy but it made me wonder, would this be a record for the most distant individual stars ever observer?

 

Not sure on the record, but a bit of googling and I found this article from 1988: http://www.eso.org/public/usa/news/eso8807/

The observed star had super nova'd by that point, so not sure if it meets your criteria.  But 5 Billion light years away, wow.

It's not explicitly defined in the article referenced by the OP, http://www.universetoday.com/117550/the-milky-way-new-neighbor-may-tell-us-things-about-the-universe/

Reading the Wiki article, it appears to me that they're aren't necessarily defined by size but by brightness.  My conclusion would be that since they're that much smaller, they're that much less bright, but I don't see a defined metric for size.  I'm sure someone much more versed in astronomy can answer better.

Often the Dwarf Galaxies don't have a defined disk, classic barred spiral/spiral galaxy shape that commonly comes to mind when we think of galaxy shapes.  (Our Milky Way is a barred spiral not a true spiral like a whirlpool as commonly thought)

It is posited in some communities that dwarfs lack a SMBH in the center like the spiral galaxies.  This gives them a less organized shape.
While dwarf galaxies are most often thought to be shaped by dark matter and tidal forces from nearby more massive galaxies.  

That is a good basic article.  I love the fact that Hubble time is shared out by so many researchers from around the world.  I can't wait for the James Webb to be launched and brought on line.  It will really give us good data but many folks don't realize that most of it's work will be done outside the visual spectrum.  We can't ever expect to see anything like the views we will get with the JW except with it.  That is what will make it so special.  Terrestrial telescopes with adaptive optics can now rival the Hubble but will never rival the JW because our atmosphere blocks the wave lengths it is attuned too.

Dwarf galaxies contain up to a few billion stars in a cluster compared to galaxies like the Milky Way and Andromeda which are spirals and contain hundreds of billions of stars. Several dozen dwarf galaxies orbit our Milky Way. The Milky Way has a diameter of 100 to 120 thousand light years. Super giant elliptical galaxies can contain hundreds of trillions of stars.
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A super nova explosion can shine brighter than the rest of the stars in a galaxy combined. I'm wondering about observations of main sequence stars before they go kablooy.

Remember, only stars 8-10 SM or larger SN.  They are the brightest spots in the universe when they go though.  I hope we have one visible to backyard astronomers in my lifetime.  But not too close!!!!

Betelgeuse is the best guess for one we may see pop.  Who knows, it may already has.  No telltale neutrinos yet though.

Nah, my backyard set up is not up to the task.  Now that I am out of school access to good stuff is not as easy.