Posted on Sunday, July 04 2010 @ 0:20 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
Cosmologists ran a huge computer simulation to recreate the beginnings of our galaxy and found evidence to support the theory that many of our galaxy's oldest stars once belonged to other galaxies:
The simulations revealed that the ancient stars, found in a stellar halo of debris surrounding the Milky Way, had been ripped from smaller galaxies by the gravity generated by colliding galaxies.
Cosmologists predict that the early Universe was full of small galaxies which led short and violent lives. These galaxies collided with each other leaving behind debris which eventually settled into more familiar looking galaxies like the Milky Way.
The researchers say their finding supports the theory that many of the Milky Way's ancient stars had once belonged to other galaxies instead of being the earliest stars born inside the galaxy when it began to form about 10 billion years ago.
More info
at PhysOrg.
