Scientists observing star clusters near the center of the Milky Way have confirmed that our galaxy devoured a smaller dwarf galaxy roughly 11.8 billion years ago.
- The Collision: The consumed galaxy, named Low-energy-Kraken-Heracles (LKH), held stars equal to 500 million solar masses—about a quarter of the Milky Way’s size at the time. While stars didn't crash into each other, colliding gas triggered a massive starburst.
- The Discovery: A team led by Davide Massari used Hubble and Gaia space telescopes to analyze star clusters in the innermost 20,000 light-years, confirming the stars originated outside our galaxy.
- Galactic History: LKH marks the earliest-known merger in Milky Way history. It was later followed by the Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus merger (10 billion years ago) and the ongoing Sagittarius dwarf merger.
Source: Reuters
