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Tuesday, 21 July 2026

Milky Way Underwent Dramatic Disk Flip, Study Suggests

Simulations by Durham University indicate the galaxy's orientation changed drastically, possibly due to an ancient collision.

Talivio News · Global 1 min read
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The Milky Way galaxy stretching across a dark night sky with scattered stars. Jobert Enamno

New research led by Durham University astronomers suggests the Milky Way galaxy experienced a dramatic change in orientation, known as a 'disk flip,' where its galactic disk tilted by more than 90 degrees.

According to the researchers, the flip occurred about 10 billion years ago and was caused by a collision with the Gaia Sausage, a dwarf galaxy that struck the Milky Way in a head-on impact.

The findings are based on supercomputer simulations of galactic dynamics, which indicate that galaxies with slowly rotating stellar halos are more likely to undergo such a disk flip.

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Sources

  1. phys.org — Cosmic gymnastics: How the Milky Way once underwent a dramatic flip (opens in a new window)
  2. The Guardian — Milky Way flipped in collision with dwarf galaxy 10bn years ago, astronomers say (opens in a new window)
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