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After studying several globular clusters in the Milky Way halo, the researchers concluded that the galaxy had engulfed several large galaxies for billions of years. He's eating one right now.
( Reid Wiseman | NASA )
The Milky Way is colliding with 12 galaxies since it's formed billions of years ago, according to a new study published in the ArXiv pre-print server.
Astronomers from the University of Heidelberg in Germany have concluded that since 12 billion years ago, the galaxy of the Milky Way has fused with a dozen galaxies and three smaller galaxies.
Looking at the 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 clusters and the galaxy itself.
Examination of the globular clusters
The researchers examined 96 globular clusters in orbit around the center of the Milky Way and measured the age and metallicity of the stars found among them, the latter referring to the abundance of heavy elements found in the stellar material. . Galaxies composed of stars rich in heavy elements are typically older than those whose stars are not as abundant in metals.
They discovered that the Milky Way has been forming metal-rich galaxies for 12 billion years, which means that it must collide with large galaxies. Scientists have also discovered 35 globular clusters with fewer metal-rich stars, suggesting that the Milky Way has also consumed two smaller galaxies.
In fact, it is merging with a dwarf galaxy. Called Sagittarius, the unfortunate dwarf is one of nine galaxies orbiting the Milky Way. For the next 100 million years, Sagittarius will move across the galaxy, where the strong gravitational pull of the collision is likely to tear it apart.
Interestingly, this is not the first time that the dwarf galaxy collides with the Milky Way. His orbit shows that he has come in contact with the galaxy several times and survived the collision. Researchers believe that Sagittarius may contain dark matter, which has kept it intact through the impacts.
New research on globular clusters
The validity of the new findings may be diluted due to a recent study suggesting that globular clusters might not be as old as we thought. In the research published in the Monthly Notices from the Royal Astronomical Society, astronomers have suggested that globular clusters can be 9 billion years old, and not 13 billion years old as previously proposed.
This could complicate things for the study done by the Heidelberg team, but the head of the study, Diederik Kruijssen, says the new discovery on globular clusters only applies to To distant galaxies. For their research, they watched groups so closely that they could study the elements of each star one by one.
"The major effect announced in their press release only affects the globular cluster populations of other galaxies and does not apply to the globular cluster system of the Milky Way," Kruijssen explains. .
In accordance with dark matter research
Kruijssen and his team's research are in agreement with data from the Dark Energy Survey, a three-year study conducted by an international team of researchers launched in 2013.
The study concludes that the Milky Way has engulfed nearly a dozen galaxies, whose remains can be observed rushing through space in what are called stellar streams.
The 570 megapixel dark energy camera used for the investigation detected 11 new starflows. By studying the positions and trajectories of these water courses, the researchers were able to conclude that they were part of the galaxies that merged with the Milky Way.
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