The earliest galaxy 'swallowed' by the cannibal Milky Way left a scar at its heart

Astronomers have identified what they believe to be the first instance of the Milky Way consuming another galaxy, marking a pivotal moment in our galaxy’s evolution. This event occurred approximately 13 billion years ago, during the early universe when galaxies were frequently merging and interacting. The consumed galaxy, now known as NGS-0467, was ‘swallowed’ by the Milky Way, resulting in a distinctive distortion observed within the galactic center. Scientists used data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope to detect this remnant structure. Researchers are continuing to study this scar to better understand how galaxies like the Milky Way formed and grew over cosmic time.