Using a unique new data set, Maosheng Xiang and Hans-Walter Rix (both Max Planck Institute for Astronomy) have provided the best reconstruction yet of what could be termed the exciting teenage years of our home galaxy: the period between about 13 and 8 billion years ago when the Milky Way lived hard and fast, merging with other galaxies and consuming plenty of hydrogen to form new stars – before settling down to amore quiet life for the subsequent 8 billion years to the present. The analysis became possible through reconstructingstellar ages of Milky Way starswith unprecedented precision, drawing onrecent sky survey data. The results have now been published in the journal Nature.
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