(Press-News.org) Clues about how galaxies like our Milky Way form and evolve and why their stars show surprising chemical patterns have been revealed by a new study.
The research, published today in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, explores the origins of a puzzling feature in the Milky Way: the presence of two distinct groups of stars with different chemical compositions, known as the "chemical bimodality".
When scientists study stars near the Sun, they find two main types based on their chemical makeup, specifically, the amounts of iron (Fe) and magnesium (Mg) they contain. These two groups form separate "sequences" in a chemical diagram, even though they overlap in metallicity (how rich they are in heavy elements like iron). This has long puzzled astronomers.
The new study led by researchers at the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona (ICCUB) and the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) uses advanced computer simulations (called the Auriga simulations) to recreate the formation of galaxies like the Milky Way in a virtual universe. By analysing 30 simulated galaxies, the team looked for clues about how these chemical sequences form.
Understanding the chemical history of the Milky Way helps scientists piece together how our galaxy, and others like it, came to be. This includes our sister galaxy, Andromeda, in which no bimodality has yet been detected. It also provides clues about the conditions in the early universe and the role of cosmic gas flows and galaxy mergers.
"This study shows that the Milky Way's chemical structure is not a universal blueprint," said lead author Matthew Orkney, a researcher at ICCUB and the Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC).
"Galaxies can follow different paths to reach similar outcomes, and that diversity is key to understanding galaxy evolution."
The study reveals that galaxies like the Milky Way can develop two distinct chemical sequences through various mechanisms. In some cases, this bimodality arises from bursts of star formation followed by periods of little activity, while in others it results from changes in the inflow of gas from the galaxy's surroundings.
Contrary to previous assumptions, the collision with a smaller galaxy known as Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus (GSE) is not a necessary condition for this chemical pattern to emerge. Instead, the simulations show that metal-poor gas from the circumgalactic medium (CGM) plays a crucial role in forming the second sequence of stars.
Moreover, the shape of these chemical sequences is closely linked to the galaxy's star formation history.
As new telescopes like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and upcoming missions such as PLATO and Chronos provide more detailed data on stars and galaxies, researchers will be able to test these findings and refine our picture of the cosmos.
"This study predicts that other galaxies should exhibit a diversity of chemical sequences. This will soon be probed in the era of 30m telescopes where such studies in external galaxies will become routine," said Dr Chervin Laporte, of ICCUB-IEEC, CNRS-Observatoire de Paris and Kavli IPMU.
"Ultimately, these will also help us further refine the physical evolutionary path of our own Milky Way."
ENDS
Media contacts
Sam Tonkin
Royal Astronomical Society
Mob: +44 (0)7802 877 700
press@ras.ac.uk
Dr Robert Massey
Royal Astronomical Society
Mob: +44 (0)7802 877 699
press@ras.ac.uk
Science contacts
Matthew Orkney
University of Barcelona
m.d.a.orkney@gmail.com
Images & video
Milky Way-like galaxy simulation
Caption: Computer simulation of a Milky Way-like galaxy from the Auriga suite, cycling between views of the stars, the gas coloured by iron (Fe) abundance, and the gas coloured by magnesium (Mg) abundance. The galaxy has developed a large, flat gas disc that forms a thin disc of young and blue stars. The gas disc was thicker in earlier stages, producing an older and redder population of stars in a thicker stellar disc. A scale bar in the lower-left corner indicates the size of the galaxy. For comparison, the Sun lies about 8 kiloparsecs (kpc) from the centre of our own Milky Way.
Credit: Matthew D. A. Orkney (ICCUB-IEEC)/Auriga project.
Auriga suite still
Caption: This image shows the gas disc in a computer simulation of a Milky Way-like galaxy from the Auriga suite. Colours represent the ratio of magnesium (Mg) to iron (Fe), revealing that the galactic centre (pink) is poor in Mg, while the outskirts (green) are Mg-rich. These chemical patterns provide important clues about how the galaxy formed.
Credit: Matthew D. A. Orkney (ICCUB-IEEC) /Auriga project.
Further information
The paper ‘The Milky Way in context: The formation of galactic discs and chemical sequences from a cosmological perspective’ by M. D. A. Orkney et al. has been published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. DOI: 10.1093/mnras/staf1551.
This research has been led by researchers from the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona (ICCUB), the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC) and the CNRS with the collaboration of scientists from Liverpool John Moores University and the Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik.
Notes for editors
About the Royal Astronomical Society
The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), founded in 1820, encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science.
The RAS organises scientific meetings, publishes international research and review journals, recognises outstanding achievements by the award of medals and prizes, maintains an extensive library, supports education through grants and outreach activities and represents UK astronomy nationally and internationally. Its more than 4,000 members (Fellows), a third based overseas, include scientific researchers in universities, observatories and laboratories as well as historians of astronomy and others.
The RAS accepts papers for its journals based on the principle of peer review, in which fellow experts on the editorial boards accept the paper as worth considering. The Society issues press releases based on a similar principle, but the organisations and scientists concerned have overall responsibility for their content.
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New study sheds light on Milky Way's mysterious chemical history
2025-12-08
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