The Milky Way Has Swallowed A Dozen Galaxies, And It's Eating A New One Right Now

[Judi Lynn]

25 June 2018, 8:19 am EDT By Nicole Arce Tech Times

The Milky Way has been colliding with 12 galaxies since it formed billions of years ago, according to a new study published in the preprint server ArXiv.

Astronomers at the University of Heidelberg in Germany have concluded that for the past 12 billion or so years, the Milky Way galaxy has been merging with a dozen galaxies and three smaller ones.

By looking at globular clusters, the dense clusters of hundreds of thousands of stars that can be observed at the halo of the galaxy, the researchers have gained insight into the origin of the clusters and the galaxy itself.

Examining Globular Clusters
The researchers looked at 96 massive globular clusters orbiting the center of Milky Way and measured the age and metallicity of stars found among them, the latter referring to the abundance of heavy elements found in stellar material. Galaxies composed of stars rich in heavy elements are typically older than those with stars not as abundant in metals.

More:
https://www.techtimes.com/articles/231039/20180625/the-milky-way-has-swallowed-a-dozen-galaxies-and-it-s-eating-a-new-one-right-now.htm

[Javaman]

1. and I'm eating a milky way right now!

[DavidDvorkin]

2. It's the Great Cycle of Life!

[getting old in mke]

3. Stocking up

on Twinkies to snack on while watching. 'Cause popcord will be stale in 100 million years.

[SCantiGOP]

4. I'm glad there are people smart enough

To figure this out.