Galaxy found to be cannibalising stars from galactic neighbours

Researchers have discovered a dominant galaxy cannibalising on stars of its near galactic neighbours – an act that may explain how galaxies such as the Milky Way were formed.

Discovered using a highly sensitive instrument on one of the world’s largest telescopes, the galaxy’s appetite for other stars was visible after astronomers took extremely wide-view, long exposures of a nearby group of galaxies known as the M81 Group, which lies 11.7 million light years from the Milky Way.

Researchers including those from University of Edinburgh observed that the dominant galaxy – M81 – capturing stars from its two nearest neighbouring galaxies. The gravitation pull of M81 was shown to distort the shapes of the other galaxies, pulling their stars into long tails, in a process called tidal stripping.

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