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Astronomers from the University of Cambridge have said that a large group of stars with an unusual trajectory indicates that eight billion years ago, the Milky Way survived a frontal collision with another galaxy, writes Versions. Scientists have studied the relationship between the content of elements in the star that are heavier than helium (metals), and its motion. During their work, the scientists drew attention to a group of stars that are distinguished by a relatively high metal content and high radial velocities. Unlike most stars in the galaxy, they do not move at approximately constant distance from, near or away from, the center of the galaxy. In addition, the stars in this group form an oblong region – "Gaia Sausage".
Fusion and collision The Milky Way runs through its entire life, but the encounter with the "Saussis Gaia" was one of the most dramatic. Its mass is more than 10 billion solar masses (about ten times easier than the Milky Way), and at least eight star clusters remained in our galaxy, indicating a fairly decent size of the decomposed object. Computer simulations of the collision showed how the "Sausage" stars appear in elongated orbits around the center of the Milky Way and are gradually absorbed by its disk.
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