Stellar Motions of Halo Stars in Milky Way
This illustration shows the disc of our Milky Way galaxy, surrounded by a faint, extended halo of old stars. Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope to observe the nearby Andromeda galaxy serendipitously identified a dozen foreground stars in the Milky Way halo. They measured the first sideways motions (represented by the arrows) for such distant halo stars. The motions indicate the possible presence of a shell in the halo, which may have formed from the accretion of a dwarf galaxy. This observation supports the view that the Milky Way has undergone continuing growth and evolution over its lifetime by consuming smaller galaxies.
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About the Image
NASA press release
NASA caption
NASA caption
| Id: | opo1307a |
| Type: | Artwork |
| Release date: | 22 February 2013, 11:16 |
| Size: | 2400 x 1800 px |
About the Object
| Type: | • Illustration Images |
