Old star is 'missing link' in galactic evolution

So was it that the Milky Way was also once a dwarf galaxy? If we can understand how this star was formed then we can understand how all the stars in our galaxy were formed.

And what is interesting is that this star is as old as the universe itself. So why do dwarf galaxies form and why are they absorbed into big galaxies like the Milky way?

A newly discovered star outside the Milky Way has yielded important clues about the evolution of our galaxy. Located in the dwarf galaxy Sculptor some 280,000 light-years away, the star has a chemical make-up similar to the Milky Way's oldest stars, supporting theories that our galaxy grew by absorbing dwarf galaxies and other galactic building blocks.

This star is likely almost as old as the universe itself," said astronomer Anna Frebel of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, lead author of the Nature paper reporting the finding.

In addition to the star's total metal abundance, researchers also compared the abundance of iron to that of elements such as magnesium, calcium, and titanium. The ratios resembled those of old Milky Way stars, lending more support to the idea that these stars originally formed in dwarf galaxies.

Source: www.physorg.com...

a star as old as teh univers. now THAT'S a good place to go looking for signs of life. imagine a race from there that remembers waaaaay back when.

reply to post by gheybayten


And only 280000 light years away, I'll go and check it out on my lunch break!

lol

all galaxies start as dwarf galaxies. Galaxies get bigger by absorbing dwarf galaxies when the supermassive black holes at the center combine. when these entities combine, the SMBH gets bigger. the centers of galaixies in local groups attract each other gravitationally.

[edit on 3/3/2010 by Paladin327]