The last galactic fling was billions of years later than previously thought, indicating our galaxy may have more surprises in store.
Evidence of the Milky Way ’s past is encoded in wrinkles of stars, whose positions and movements have shifted as our galaxy has interacted with other galaxies, sometimes violently. Now, a team of astronomers say that the most recent of those cosmic collisions was billions of years later than was thought, making the Milky Way that we know and love a much younger entity than previously believed.
If they’d joined us eight billion years ago, there would be so many wrinkles right next to each other that we would no longer see them as separate features.” The region of interest in the Gaia data is the Milky Way’s inner stellar halo. This area features a stretch with a high concentration of iron and hydrogen. The stars in this stretch have eccentric orbits compared to the surrounding stars.
Gaia Sausage Galactic Halo Heidi Jo Newberg Thomas Donlon Local Group Dwarf Galaxies RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE Galaxies Stellar Kinematics Gizmodo
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