Galaxy Fairy Women will swallow our Milky Way?

As a result of a recent study, in the next 5 billion years, the Milky Way will be swallowed up by a 'neighbor' - the Andromeda galaxy, also known as the Fairy-girl galaxy.

The study also showed that giant galaxies in the universe stopped creating new stars and are tending to "eat" other galaxies for development.

Astronomers have observed more than 22,000 different galaxies and found that new star-forming activity from gases is made more efficiently by small galaxies; while large galaxies grow thanks to the consumption of other galaxies, instead of producing extra stars.

Photo: Reuters

Detailed information about the study was published last Friday by the Royal Astronomical Society of the UK.

'At first, all galaxies were small, and grew up only by gathering gases and turning them into stars ,' said Aaron Robotham, the study's lead author, now working at the International Center. The study of Radio Astronomy (ICRAR) at the University of Western Australia said, "Sometimes, these galaxies are" re-eaten "by other larger galaxies."

For our part, our Milky Way is expected to increase in size by consuming two dwarf shaped galaxies - the Large and Small Magellanic cloud - for about 4 billion years, until the Milky Way itself. will also be "swallowed" by the Andromeda galaxy within 5 billion years.

'Technically, Andromeda will' eat 'us, because it is a bigger galaxy, " Robotham said.

The study is based on data collected from the Anglo-Australian telescope, which is located in New South Wales, Australia as part of a survey called Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA), headed by professor Simon Driver. under ICRAR.

This survey was completed after 7 years, involving more than 90 scientists.

Robotham said that as galaxies grow, they create a greater gravitational pull and can easily attract nearby galaxies. This attraction will gather scattered galaxy clusters, forming a few giant galaxies. However, this process takes several billion years to complete.

'If you wait for a very, very, very long time, this process will eventually happen, but your waiting time will be many times the age of the current universe ,' Robottham said. .

The title has been changed.