Between 2 and 3 billion long time ago , a dramatic event unfold in our coltsfoot . A salvo of champion formation may have take space and it could be creditworthy for up to one-half of the stars presently present in the astronomical magnetic disc , the thin neighborhood of the extragalactic nebula that ’s dwelling house to the Solar System .

As reported inAstronomy & Astrophysics , researcher found grounds that between 6 and 10 billion years ago , the overall star formation rate decline , as has been seen throughout the universe . But just about 5 billion years ago , it picked up the tread once again , reaching its peak in the maven - forming burst .

The team suspects that a   satellite galaxy might have been cannibalized by the Milky Way . This upshot would have brought new cloth to our galaxy   that could be used   to make stars . It would n’t be the first metre scientist have found evidence of the Milky Way gobbling up aneighboring dwarf galaxy .

“ The time scurf of this star geological formation burst together with the great amount of astral hatful involve in the process , thousands of millions of solar heap , suggests the phonograph recording of our galaxy did not have a unfaltering and paused organic evolution , it may have suffered an outside disturbance that start about 5 billion year ago , ” lead author Roger Mor , from the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona , pronounce in astatement .

The find was only potential thanks to Brobdingnagian and eminent - quality data provide by the Gaia observatory . TheEuropean Space Agency ’s missionhas been collecting detailed information about billions of stars in the Milky Way ( and slightly out of it ) , which has allowed researchers to construct precise maps of stellar distributions across our galaxy .

“ We have been able-bodied to chance this out due to give birth – for the first time   – precise distances for more than 3 million wizard in the solar environment , ” explicate Mor . “ Thanks to these data we could fall upon the mechanism that controlled the development more than 8 - 10 billion years ago in the phonograph record of our Galaxy , which is not more than the bright striation we see in the sky on a dark Nox and with no low-cal contamination . ”

Understanding the phylogeny of the Milky Way has an impact on both the smaller and broad ordered series . It can sure help us explain how the Solar System came to be . But it can also help us understand the encompassing universe . Our galaxy is an ideal testing earth for cosmological example and can provide Modern insights into how these models work on bigger scales .