Shafaqna English– New findings have revealed that the Milky Way, a magnificent spiral galaxy that hosts our solar system along with hundreds of billions of other stars, did not achieve its current proportions through a simple or straightforward process.
Instead, its growth has been shaped by a series of dramatic events, the earliest of which has now been identified by astronomers studying the galaxy’s ancient history.
By examining clusters of stars densely packed near the galactic center, scientists have uncovered compelling evidence that the Milky Way absorbed a smaller neighboring galaxy approximately 11.8 billion years ago, at a time when the universe was still in its cosmic infancy—less than 15% of its present age.
This primordial merger now stands as the earliest known galactic collision in the Milky Way’s history, offering a vivid demonstration that the galaxy expanded not solely through internal star formation but also by assimilating smaller stellar systems that fell under its gravitational influence.
Source: Reuters