Scientists discover that Milky Way was struck some 100 million years ago, still rings like a bell
Thursday, June 28, 2012 - 10:30
in Astronomy & Space
(Phys.org) -- Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is a large spiral galaxy surrounded by dozens of smaller satellite galaxies. Scientists have long theorized that occasionally these satellites will pass through the disk of the Milky Way, perturbing both the satellite and the disk. A team of astronomers from Canada and the United States have discovered what may well be the smoking gun of such an encounter, one that occurred close to our position in the galaxy and relatively recently, at least in the cosmological sense.