10 Interesting Facts About the Milky Way

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3The Galaxy Is an Island in a Stream of Stars

The Milky Way eats galaxies that come too close. Over the years, scientists studying the galaxy’s fringe have detected some two dozen faint streamers of stars that are the remnants of galaxies past.

These ghostly stellar rivers formed when the Milky Way’s more powerful gravity ripped apart smaller galaxies, leaving behind glittering strands of leftovers. At the AAS meeting, the Dark Energy Survey team announced that it had detected 11 more of these streamers, some of which have been given Aboriginal names.