The last major act of galactic cannibalism in the Milky Way was surprisingly recent

New findings from the Gaia Space Telescope indicate that the Milky Way cosmically cannibalized a small galaxy not so long ago. In fact, the last major collision between our galaxy and another galaxy appears to have occurred billions years later than previously suspected.

It has long been believed that the Milky Way grew through a series of violent collisions, with smaller galaxies torn apart by the immense gravitational influence of our solar system's spiral home. These collisions distribute stars from the devoured galaxy across the halo surrounding the Milky Way's main disk and its distinctive spiral arms. These bouts of ...