Astrophysicists identify primordial Milky Way merger and study star formation

Researchers from the National Institute for Astrophysics have identified evidence of a primordial galactic merger within the inner regions of the Milky Way. Published in Nature Astronomy, the study suggests this collision occurred approximately two billion years after the Big Bang. This event predates the previously documented Gaia-Enceladus impact by roughly 1.8 billion years.

To reconstruct this history, scientists utilized globular clusters as tracers. By analyzing data from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Euclid space telescope, researchers were able to determine the age and chemical composition of these clusters with high precision. The study highlights how stars in the peripheral regions of these clusters preserve traces of the galaxy's earliest interactions.

In a separate area of astronomical research, astrochemists and radio astronomers are using the ALMA observatory to study star formation in the Orion KL region. By comparing high-resolution molecular maps, researchers are reconstructing the physical and chemical conditions—such as temperature and density—required for stars to form within molecular clouds. This work uses radio waves to identify molecular signatures, allowing scientists to study the environments where massive stars are born.