Precision measurements of elderly stars yield some of the first direct evidence that the Milky Way grew more massive by devouring neighboring galaxies.

Helmi, A., S.D.M. White, et al. 1999. Debris streams in the solar neighborhood as relicts from the formation of the Milky Way. Nature 402(Nov. 4):53.

Lee, Y.-W., et al. 1999. Multiple stellar populations in the globular cluster w Centauri as tracers of a merger event. Nature 402(Nov. 4):55.

Cowen, R. 1994. Ill-fated Milky Way neighbor found. Science News 145(April 9):228.

Amina Helmi
Leiden Observatory
P.O. Box 9513
2300 RA Leiden
The Netherlands

Kathryn V. Johnston
Wesleyan University
Department of Astronomy
Van Vleck Observatory
Middletown, CT 06459-0123

Young-Wook Lee
Yonsei University
Center for Space Astrophysics
Seoul 120-749
South Korea

Simon D.M. White
Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 1
85740 Garching bei München
Germany

From Science News, Vol. 156, No. 20, November 13, 1999, p. 309. Copyright © 1999, Science Service.