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Cosmic gymnastics: How the Milky Way once underwent a dramatic flip
Key Points
The Milky Way may have undergone a dramatic change in orientation during its history, according to new research that helps explain a long-standing mystery about our galaxy. Using supercomputer simulations of galaxies like the Milky Way, a team of astronomers from Durham University found that galaxies with slowly rotating stellar halos are more likely to have experienced a major "disk flip," in which the galaxy's disk changed its orientation by more than 90 degrees.
The Milky Way may have undergone a dramatic change in orientation during its history, according to new research that helps explain a long-standing mystery about our galaxy. Using supercomputer simulations of galaxies like the Milky Way, a team of astronomers from Durham University found that galaxies with slowly rotating stellar halos are more likely to have experienced a major "disk flip," in which the galaxy's disk changed its orientation by more than 90 degrees.