The Milky Way still feels the effects of a collision with another galaxy that occurred hundreds of millions of years ago, scientists from the European Space Agency said.
Following the movement of more than 6 million stars from data collected by the Gaia Space Observatory, they noticed unusual activity in the heart of our galaxy.
Some stars were moving on their own path through the Milky Way rather than turning uniformly with the rest of the galaxy.
Dr. Teresa Antoja from the University of Barcelona stated that she was "shocked" when she first saw these movements and that she thought there must be something wrong with them. data.
"At first, the characteristics were very strange for us," she said.
Report their findings in the journal, Nature Dr. Antoja and his colleagues suggested that the unexpected movements of these stars were triggered when the Sagittarius galaxy passed between 300 and 900 million years ago.
"It's a bit like throwing a stone into a pond, which is moving water in the form of waves and waves," Dr. Antoja said.
The most amazing images of NASA
1/30 Earth of the ISS
As night fell, Terry W. Virts, flight engineer on the International Space Station's Expedition 42, took this picture of the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf Coast.
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2/30 Frosty slopes of Mars
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3/30 Orion Capsule splashes
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4/30 The launch of the Soyuz TMA-15M rocket
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5/30 Yellowstone from space
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6/30 Black hole Friday
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7/30 NuSTAR
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8/30 Saturn
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9/30 Worlds apart
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10/30 Solar eruption
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11/30 Solar eruption
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12/30 Cassiopeia A c
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13/30 Great galaxy of the Magellanic cloud
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14/30 Mars Rover Spirit
NASA's Mars Rover Spirit took Spirit's first picture since communications problems began a week earlier. The picture shows the robotic arm extended to the rock called Adirondack
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15/30 Morning dawn of the space station
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly took this picture of the green lights of the aurora of the International Space Station
16/30 Launch of History – Achievement of the STS-41G mission in 1984
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17/30 A new perspective on an extraordinary cluster of galaxies
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18/30 Supernova Nebula Veil Rest
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19/30 Hubble sees a galactic sunflower
The arrangement of the spiral arms of the Messier 63 galaxy, which we see here in an image of the Nax Hubble Space Telescope, recalls the motif at the center of a sunflower
20/30 A Hubble Cosmic Couple
The spectacular cosmic couple of star Hen 2-427 – more commonly known as WR 124 – and the nebula M1-67 that surrounds it
21/30 Pluto's picture
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22/30 Fresh crater near Sirenum Fossae Region of Mars
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23/30 Earth observations of Gemini IV in 1965
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24/30 NASA celebrates 50 years of walking in space
For 50 years, NASA is preparing for the walk in space. In this 1984 photograph of the first exit into the void, NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless is testing a nitrogen-backed gear called Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU).
25/30 Hubble enters the most crowded place of the Milky Way
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26/30 View of an astronaut from the space
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27/30 Giant shape on Mars
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28/30 Shipping 39
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29/30 The big red spot of Jupiter seen by Voyager I
30/30 The Chandra observatory sees a heart in the dark
1/30 Earth of the ISS
As night fell, Terry W. Virts, flight engineer on the International Space Station's Expedition 42, took this picture of the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf Coast.
Nasa
2/30 Frosty slopes of Mars
This image of an area on the surface of Mars, about 1.5 x 3 kilometers in size, shows frosted ravines on a southern slope in a crater. The image was taken by NASA's HiRISE camera, which is mounted on its Mars reconnaissance orbiter
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3/30 Orion Capsule splashes
The Orion capsule jumped into space before leaving a few hours later – after proving that it could be used someday to transport humans to Mars
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4/30 The launch of the Soyuz TMA-15M rocket
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5/30 Yellowstone from space
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6/30 Black hole Friday
NASA celebrated Black Friday by looking in space – sharing black hole photos
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7/30 NuSTAR
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8/30 Saturn
This near infrared color image shows a specular reflection, or sun glow, on a hydrocarbon lake called Kivu Lacus on Saturn Titan's moon.
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9/30 Worlds apart
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10/30 Solar eruption
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11/30 Solar eruption
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12/30 Cassiopeia A c
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13/30 Great galaxy of the Magellanic cloud
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14/30 Mars Rover Spirit
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15/30 Morning dawn of the space station
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16/30 Launch of History – Achievement of the STS-41G mission in 1984
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17/30 A new perspective on an extraordinary cluster of galaxies
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18/30 Supernova Nebula Veil Rest
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope unveiled in great detail a small section of the nebula of the veil – expanding remains of a massive star that exploded about 8,000 years ago
19/30 Hubble sees a galactic sunflower
The arrangement of the spiral arms of the Messier 63 galaxy, which we see here in an image of the Nax Hubble Space Telescope, recalls the motif at the center of a sunflower
20/30 A Hubble Cosmic Couple
The spectacular cosmic couple of star Hen 2-427 – more commonly known as WR 124 – and the nebula M1-67 that surrounds it
21/30 Pluto's picture
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24/30 NASA celebrates 50 years of walking in space
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25/30 Hubble enters the most crowded place of the Milky Way
This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image presents the Arches cluster, the densest star cluster of the Milky Way.
26/30 View of an astronaut from the space
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28/30 Shipping 39
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29/30 The big red spot of Jupiter seen by Voyager I
30/30 The Chandra observatory sees a heart in the dark
This small galaxy of Sagittarius, made up of tens of millions of stars, is currently "cannibalized" as the Milky Way, much larger, consumes.
However, the last time the two galaxies interacted was not so direct.
As Sagittarius skirted the Milky Way, its gravity disrupted a few million stars and made them fly in different directions. The memory of this historical event can still be seen by carefully examining the velocities of the stars of the Milky Way.
The Gaia Observatory is able to measure the three-dimensional movement of stars by combining their position in space and their velocity.
When scientists plotted this information on a graph, it formed spiral shapes indicating the unusual paths that some stars continue to take.
The "snail shell" models that emerged from the data had never been seen before, because Gaia – which can accurately plot the positions of more than a billion stars – is a huge leap forward technology.
NASA is working to repair small leaks on the International Space Station
"It suddenly looks like you've put the right glasses on and you see all the things you can not see before," said Dr. Antoja.
Despite this, the scientists said their findings are based on relatively simple computer models and analyzes. They now intend to examine the data further to find out more about the history of the Milky Way.
"The discovery was easy; the more difficult interpretations. And full understanding of its meaning and implications could take several years, "said Dr. Amina Helmi of the University of Groningen, who also contributed to the research.