We Finally Know How Old The Stars Are, Say Scientists (And When We Collided With A Cosmic Sausage ) forbes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from forbes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Milky Way s early history calculated by listening to the stars
Researchers measured oscillations caused by sound waves trapped inside the stars
The Milky Way pictured over Bamburgh Lighthouse at Stag Rock in Northumberland (Image: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire)
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Some of the oldest stars in our galaxy have been dated with unprecedented precision, scientists say.
Milky Way s early history calculated by listening to the stars bristolpost.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bristolpost.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Some of the oldest stars in our galaxy have been dated with unprecedented precision, scientists say.
Researchers surveyed around 100 red giant stars, and determined that some of these were originally part of a satellite galaxy called Gaia-Enceladus, which collided with the Milky Way early in its history.
The study revealed that the group of stars observed all have similar ages, or are slightly younger than the majority of the stars known to have started their lives within the Milky Way.
Researchers, led by the University of Birmingham, say this corroborates existing theories suggesting the Milky Way had already started forming a significant fraction of its stars when the merger with the Gaia-Enceladus (also known as the Gaia Sausage) occurred.