Scientists have discovered signs of an impending collision of the Milky Way with a neighboring galaxy
In the universe is about 2 trillion. A clash between them is currently unlikely. However, mergers and acquisitions are normal processes for galaxies.
Scientists say that in 2.5 billion years, our Milky Way will be swallowed up by a nearby star cluster. Signs of this process can be observed already in our time. And after 5 billion years, the Milky Way will encounter the Andromeda nebula, which contains more than a trillion stars. Before that, Andromeda will have time to "feast on" the Magellanic Clouds.
A scientific report on such space events was published at the 235th Congress of the American Society of Astronomers. Scientists working at the Flatiron Institute used information on the location and intensity of movement of stellar objects. They were obtained by the Gaia research mission. On the most remote periphery of our galaxy, a small group of young stars was discovered. It received the name Price Whelan 1, in honor of Andrian Price Whelan, director of the astrophysicist group.
Astronomers suggest that a cluster of stars includes less than 1,000 bright blue-class stars. Their estimated age is no more than 117 million years. This cluster is located in the halo of the Milky Way, outside areas saturated with stars and interstellar gas.The indicated sections of the Milky Way have little cosmic matter. So the active star formation process came as a surprise to astronomers.
The spectrum of star clusters was also unusual. It revealed an atypically small percentage of chemical elements heavier than hydrogen and helium. And the spectrum of local matter should be characterized by the so-called metallicity, that is, the predominance of chemical elements, starting with lithium.
After examining the spectral lines of the 27 largest stars in the Price Whelan 1 cluster, astrophysicists saw that their composition was approaching the so-called Magellanic duct. This is the name for the accumulation of clouds of interstellar gas, spreading from the Magellanic clouds to the Milky Way. From here can come the substance necessary for the formation of new stars located on the remote periphery of the Galaxy.
This discovery of scientists can influence our further ideas about the future absorption of the Milky Way and small star clusters located at a distance of several million light-years. It turned out that from our planet to the Magellanic duct - “only” 90 thousand light-years. Such a relatively short distance suggests that the conditions necessary for a collision of galaxies are already being created.
A new find of scientists will help to understand the mechanisms of evolution of galaxies and the further fate of our solar system. Perhaps it will help confirm or refute the assumptions of space disasters that could destroy our planet.
