A couple of years ago astronomers had a riddle to solve. The theory of the Big Bang predicts that larger galaxies like the Milky Way are surrounded by a couple hundred dwarf galaxies — the galactic version of moons, orbiting Ground larger galaxies. But only a dozen have been discovered yet. One possible explanation is so-called “galactic cannibalism”. Larger galaxies have such intense gravitational fields that they suck up smaller surrounding galaxies, like the time the Milky Way ate the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy for breakfast.
Recent analyses of the Leo 2 Dwaric galaxy indicate that it consists of older stars, suggesting that it somehow managed to go this whole time without being eaten by the Milky Way. This is kinda badass of it, since it is only 2,400 light years across, just a bit bigger than the largest nebulae. If the Milky Way were the size of a frisbee, Leo 2 would be a 3 mm pebble.
Keishinrei 