Astronomers have discovered two ancient star streams, named Shakti and Shiva after Hindu deities, that seem to be key components in the early formation of the Milky Way. This discovery provides fresh insights into the galaxy’s early assembly process.
These structures were identified using data from the Gaia space telescope operated by the European Space Agency. Scientists suggest that Shakti and Shiva might be remnants of two separate galaxies that merged with the initial fragments of the Milky Way around 12 billion years ago, during the galaxy’s formative period.
Shakti and Shiva consist of stars that share similar chemical compositions and were formed 12-13 billion years ago. Each of these structures has a mass approximately 10 million times that of our sun.
In Hindu mythology, the cosmos was born from the union of Shiva and Shakti. The identification of the Shakti and Shiva structures has helped to shed light on the tumultuous early stages of the Milky Way’s formation.
“Our study broadly addresses a fundamental question in modern astrophysics: how do galaxies form in our universe?” said Khyati Malhan, an astronomer at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany and the lead author of the research, which was published this week in the Astrophysical Journal. “Specifically, our study potentially provides an understanding of the Milky Way’s very initial stages of formation by identifying two star structures that merged very early on, perhaps marking the last event from the proto-Milky Way before disk formation began,” Malhan added.
Currently, Shakti and Shiva are located approximately 30,000 light years from the galactic center, with Shiva’s stars being slightly closer to this center than Shakti’s stars. This discovery underscores the importance of ongoing research in unveiling the mysteries of our galaxy’s origins and evolution.
