
Hidden Clues in the Milky Way: Remnant of a Small Galaxy Unearthed
Astronomers have identified a group of 20 ancient, very metal-poor stars in the Milky Way's disk with mixed prograde and retrograde orbits and nearly identical chemistry, suggesting they are remnants from a long-ago dwarf galaxy dubbed Loki, potentially swallowed about 10 billion years ago; while not definitive, the finding supports the view that the Milky Way grew through mergers, a conclusion increasingly supported by Gaia data and galactic archaeology.











