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Ten billion years ago, another galaxy struck the Milky Way.
But it took until now for astronomers to discover the massive “fossil galaxy” still among us, according to a report by the Independent.
Researchers from the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) project announced the discovery on Friday, the Independent reports.
They nicknamed the fossil galaxy “Hercules” and say its stars were discovered inside the Milky Way’s “halo”, the cloud of stars farthest from the brightest center of our galaxy.
“It’s really small in the cosmological context – only 100 million stars,” said Dr. Ricardo Schiavon of the remains of Hercules.
“But it accounts for nearly half the mass of the entire Milky Way halo,” added Schiavon, a scientist at the Astrophysics Research Institute at Liverpool’s John Moores University.
Dr Schiavon and his team could distinguish the stars of the Milky Way from those of Hercules due to their different chemical composition and speed.
“APOGEE allows us to penetrate through that dust and see deeper into the heart of the Milky Way than ever before,” said Dr. Schiavon.
Based on the scientific data, the researchers concluded that the collision of both galaxies “must have been an important event in the history of our galaxy,” Schiavon said.
The researchers also said this incident makes the Milky Way unusual because other “spiral galaxies had much quieter initial lives.”
As our cosmic home, the Milky Way is already special to us, but this ancient galaxy buried within it makes it even more special, ”said Dr. Schiavon.
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