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Monday, October 29, 2012

Our galaxy caught for dinner: Milky Way star absorbs


Using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the researchers found that the torrent of stars, which is supposed to symbolize the remains of ancient star clusters, slowly absorbed with you our own Milky Way galaxy.

A team of astronomers from Yale University led by Ana Bonaca, masters and lead author of the new study, had previously noted that the Milky Way has a tendency to absorb dwarf galaxies, 


which leads to its gradual growth. But this time, our galaxy, it seems, did not have dinner, but only lightly bites: a stream of stars, designated by scientists as the flow of the Triangle is actually the remains of a single star cluster, rather than an entire galaxy.

It is believed that galaxies formed gradually, through the merger of smaller galaxies or individual star clusters. These processes may be key to the growth of galaxies like our own Milky Way, scientists say.

The study will appear in the journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

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