It’s no surprise the Milky Way is the most studied galaxy in the universe, given it’s where we live. But studying just one galaxy can only tell us so much about the complex processes by which galaxies form and evolve.
One crucial question that can’t be solved without looking farther afield is whether the Milky Way is a run-of-the-mill galaxy, or whether it’s unusual or even unique.
Our research, published this week in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, suggests the former is true. Key details of our galaxy’s structure are shared by other nearby galaxies, suggesting our home isn’t all that special.
Our Milky Way isnât as unique as we thought â there’s a twin galaxy 320 million light-years away
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Itâs no surprise the Milky Way is the most-studied galaxy in the universe, given itâs where we live.
But studying just one galaxy can only tell us so much about the complex processes by which galaxies form and evolve.
One crucial question that canât be solved without looking farther afield is whether the Milky Way is a run-of-the-mill galaxy, or whether itâs unusual or even unique.
Observation of a similar galaxy to ours shows the Milky Way likely formed naturally rather than the result of a collision with a smaller galaxy.
Galaxy UGC 10738, seen edge-on through the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile, revealing distinct thick and thin discs. (Credit: Jesse van de Sande/European Southern Observatory)
(CN) Long thought to be the product of a collision with another galaxy, new research released Monday casts doubt on how the Milky Way was formed.
In a study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Australian scientists created the first detailed cross-section of UGC 10738, a galaxy similar to our own. From that model, they discovered that the Milky Way formed gradually, rather than the result of an encounter with a smaller galaxy.
It’s no surprise the Milky Way is the most-studied galaxy in the universe, given it’s where we live.
But studying just one galaxy can only tell us so much about the complex processes by which galaxies form and evolve.
One crucial question that can’t be solved without looking farther afield is whether the Milky Way is a run-of-the-mill galaxy, or whether it’s unusual or even unique.
Our research, published today in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, suggests the former is true. Key details of our galaxy’s structure are shared by other nearby galaxies, suggesting our home isn’t all that special.