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Study: Milky Way Flipped 90° After Ancient Galaxy Crash
Simulations suggest an ancient merger slowly reoriented the galaxy’s disk and left its stellar halo rotating far more slowly than expected.
- Astronomer Kirill Batrakov of Durham University presented findings at the 2026 Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting showing the Milky Way's disk may have gradually tipped onto its side over billions of years.
- About 10 or 11 billion years ago, the massive dwarf galaxy Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus smashed into the Milky Way, serving as the most significant event in our galaxy's early history and reshaping it fundamentally.
- Batrakov defined the 'disk flip' as a change in orientation by more than 90 degrees, which helps explain why the sparse stellar halo rotates more slowly than expected for the galaxy's mass.
- Using Auriga simulations of 25 galaxies, researchers linked slow-rotating haloes to major mergers; the Chinese Academy of Sciences independently found the dark matter halo oriented almost perpendicular to the stellar disk.
- If observers on Earth could witness the process, the night sky would change as constellations shifted; understanding the Milky Way provides a 'testbed' for studying other galaxies.
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15 Articles
Our galaxy flipped after a collision, say astronomers
Our galaxy flipped after a collision with a dwarf galaxy 10 billion years ago, changing the Milky Way's evolution, new simulations suggest. The post Our galaxy flipped after a collision, say astronomers first appeared on EarthSky.
·Austin, United States
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Computer simulations have shown that a dwarf galaxy with more than ten billion times the mass of the Sun rearranged the galaxy.
Milky Way galaxy flipped upside down after a mega crash. Even the Sun's path changed
New research suggests the Milky Way's disc flipped after a head-on collision with Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus. The finding may explain the galaxy's slow stellar halo and suggests even the Sun once followed a different path.
·Noida, India
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources15
Leaning Left3Leaning Right1Center4Last UpdatedBias Distribution50% Center
Bias Distribution
- 50% of the sources are Center
50% Center
L 38%
C 50%
12%
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