Astronomers have identified what could be two of the Milky Way's earliest building blocks: Named 'Shakti' and 'Shiva', these appear to be the remnants of two galaxies that merged between 12 and 13 billion years ago with an early version of the Milky Way, contributing to our home galaxy's initial growth.
Astronomers have identified what could be two of the Milky Way's earliest building blocks: Named 'Shakti' and 'Shiva', these appear to be the remnants of two galaxies that merged between 12 and 13 billion years ago with an early version of the Milky Way, contributing to our home galaxy's initial growth. The new find is the astronomical equivalent of archeologists identifying traces of an initial settlement that grew into a large present-day city.
Additional pointers can assist identification. Stars that formed more recently contain more heavier elements, what astronomers call"metals," than stars that formed a long time ago. The lower the metal content , the earlier the star presumably formed. When trying to identify stars that already existed 13 billion years ago, one should look for stars with very low metal content .
Their energy and angular momentum values, plus their overall low metallicity on par with that of the"poor old heart," makes Shakti and Shiva good candidates for some of the earliest ancestors of our Milky Way. Rix says:"Shakti and Shiva might be the first two additions to the 'poor old heart' of our Milky Way, initiating its growth towards a large galaxy."
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