Espresso Knowledge #51 - Clashing galaxies raise families of stars

How did the Milky Way come to be?

Researchers recently answered this using artificial and in the process, created the first complete family tree for our place in the universe.

Eleven billion years ago, a galaxy the researchers named Kraken collided with the Milky Way. This collision is the most significant merger that our galaxy has ever experienced and transformed how it looked.

Over time, the Milky Way has gobbled about 15 galaxies containing over a 110 million stars.

Galaxies like Milky Way form when smaller galaxies merge into one another.

The Milky Way has over hundred and fifty dense groups of up to a million stars.

Using simulations and artificial intelligence, researchers analyzed ages, chemistry, and movement of these groups. They peered ten billion years back in time to understand the ancestral galaxies of these groups. Researchers found how big and heavy these galaxies were, but also when they merged.

Original article:

MILKY WAY FAMILY TREE

Original study:

Kraken reveals itself – the merger history of the Milky Way reconstructed with the E-MOSAICS simulations