There are literally billions upon billions of galaxies out there in the cosmos, but the Milky Way is just a little bit special. It’s a spiral galaxy, which isn’t that rare, but it is exceedingly so amongst our galactic neighbors and now scientists might finally know why.
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00:00 There are literally billions upon billions of galaxies out there in the cosmos, but ours,
00:08 the Milky Way, is just a little bit special.
00:10 It's a spiral galaxy, which isn't that rare, but it is exceedingly so amongst our
00:14 galactic neighbors, and now scientists might finally know why.
00:17 Researchers used an advanced computer simulation of our universe, looking back into its infancy
00:22 around 13.8 billion years ago.
00:24 At that point, ours and the surrounding galaxies were only just starting to form, and they
00:28 found something a bit wild.
00:29 It turns out the Milky Way grew up in a bad neighborhood, where galaxies were constantly
00:33 ramming into one another.
00:34 These collisions sometimes resulted in galactic mergers, where what would have been two separate
00:38 galaxies instead meet and become one.
00:41 If both of the galaxies that merge are spiral galaxies, they often become what are called
00:45 elliptical galaxies, or ones that can appear as an arc connected by a strand of dust and
00:49 gas and other material.
00:50 The Milky Way just so happens to be surrounded by many of those very galaxies, meaning our
00:54 neighbors likely used to be spirals as well, and ours somehow survived that chaotic history.
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01:05 (upbeat music)