Galaxies grow by snagging material from intergalactic space as well as just gobbling up other galaxies. We see that happening in the universe and we know that it must have happened in the past with our own galaxy‚ the Milky Way. Thanks to the Gaia observatory‚ astronomers have now found two of the oldest mergers that took place in our galaxy.Gaia is a European Space Agency mission that is responsible for the most precise map of the Milky Way ever created. Such a map tells us where billions of stars are today‚ but it can also be used for galactic archaeology – finding out where some of its stars came from.A galaxy merger is a slow and messy affair. It usually brings a lot more gas‚ which ends up forming new stars. Older stars from the original galaxies mingle together and if you were just photographing them you would not be able to pick them apart. But Gaia data‚ combined with the spectra of stars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (DR17)‚ allowed us to reveal much more.Gaia’s enormous map also provides information about the motion of stars. If a group of stars are all moving in the same way‚ it’s a hint they might be related‚ but the proof comes from their chemical compositions. Stars are mostly hydrogen and helium‚ but they do have a sprinkling of other elements. This is known as metallicity‚ and it can work like a fingerprint and as a date stamp. The older the star‚ the lower the metallicity. Stars created the elements beyond helium‚ so older stars had fewer metals to play with when they formed. Also‚ stars that formed in the same region will have a similar composition. Putting metallicity and motion together allows researchers to find out if these groups belong together.They have done this multiple times‚ with streams of stars such as the Pontus stream and the “poor old heart” of the Milky Way back in 2022‚ as well as the most recent large merger‚ caused by the collision with the Gaia Enceladus/Sausage galaxy between 8 and 10 billion years ago. The two new components are called “Shakti” and “Shiva”‚ and they are much older. They merged with the proto-Milky Way between 12 and 13 billion years ago.“What’s truly amazing is that we can detect these ancient structures at all‚” Khyati Malhan of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA)‚ who led the research‚ said in a statement emailed to IFLScience. “The Milky Way has changed so significantly since these stars were born that we wouldn’t expect to recognise them so clearly as a group – but the unprecedented data we’re getting from Gaia made it possible.”“When we visualised the orbits of all these stars‚ two new structures stood out from the rest among stars of a certain chemical composition‚” added Khyati. “We named them Shakti and Shiva.”The exciting difference between Shakti and Shiva compared to the Old Heart of the Milky Way is that these components are spread out far from the core of our galaxy. Shakti orbits farther out than Shiva and in a more circular way. If we were to turn back time 12 billion years‚ we would not see a galaxy with spiral arms in a thin disk. We would be seeing the messy streams of stars from multiple collisions.“Shakti and Shiva might be the first two additions to the ‘poor old heart’ of our Milky Way‚ initiating its growth towards a large galaxy‚” co-author Hans-Walter Rix‚ also of MPIA and the lead "galactic archaeologist" from the 2022 work‚ said in another statement.Future Gaia releases might reveal more streams and more ancient components of the Milky Way. They could provide important missing steps in the formation and evolution of our own galaxy.The study is published in The Astrophysical Journal.

Network television regularly portrays illegal aliens as sympathetic characters. Last night's episode of CBS' FBI did exactly that. In the episode‚ "Sacrifice‚" the FBI is called in on a kidnapping case. The victim is Matthew Sawyer (Christian Conn)‚ director of a New York City shelter housing "migrants."  "Migrants" is deceptive left-wing code for illegal aliens. The mayor's office called the FBI because the "migrant thing's a hot button issue for them." Footage of the overcrowded shelter had been leaked to the press‚ embarrassing the mayor‚ so cameras outside the shelter were disabled. Virtue-signaling as a sanctuary city has its costs.  The FBI's first suspect in the case is a white veteran named James Dunn (Quinn M. Johnson). Dunn stalked Sawyer. FBI analyst Kelly Moran (Taylor Anthony Miller) gives lead agent Jubal Valentine (Jeremy Sisto) a summary of Dunn's profile. The dialogue is a left-wing fanfiction caricature of open border opponents. Valentine: Kelly‚ what are you reading? You think this guy is a viable threat? Moran: Based on his hate-filled social media posts‚ I'd say yes. Over 100 in the past two weeks. Most about immigration being the left's way of destroying white America.  Agents Stuart Scola (John Boyd) and Tiffany Wallace (Katherine Renee Kane) bring Dunn in for interrogation and discover that his girlfriend was robbed and killed by illegals two months earlier. Wallace: We've seen your social media posts. Scola: You specifically said he must pay for what he's done. Dunn: He should. Everyone associated with the problem should. They're the reason my girlfriend's dead. Scola: How's that? Dunn: She was robbed and shot by illegals a couple months ago. They were staying at the migrant center. Wallace: So‚ you abducted Sawyer as revenge? Dunn: No. No‚ I wouldn't waste my time on that clueless bastard. Scola: You just stalk him for months. Dunn: He doesn't deserve to live in peace. He--I want him looking over his shoulder at all times. But I'm not a killer. And I'm done talking. I want a lawyer.  The episode at least gets a point for acknowledging violent illegal alien crime‚ if only for a few seconds of dialogue.  Dunn has an alibi and is soon crossed off the list of suspects. The kidnapper is instead one of the shelter's "migrants‚" a man named Hector Ramirez (Nick Gomez). Ramirez is holding the shelter director and his wife hostage in their suburban home. Despite being a hostage-taker‚ his character is ultimately shown in a heart-wrenching‚ pitying light. It turns out Ramirez is desperate to save his beloved 13-year-old daughter. She was kidnapped from the shelter by a man who looks similar to Sawyer. Ramirez filed a missing person's report‚ but nobody cared. He wants law enforcement to find his girl. The FBI investigates and quickly learns that a white American linen worker with a long rap sheet of child predation took Ramirez' daughter from the shelter. We also learn that Ramirez was a police officer in Mexico‚ and his wife was beheaded because he fought the cartels. The writers created an illegal alien character who fought the very cartels that illegally smuggle people over the U.S. border. Illegal alien children are also regularly sex trafficked by said cartels and their enablers‚ but this episode ignores the larger forces involved in trafficking.  When Ramirez learns that Sawyer is not involved‚ he releases the director and his wife in exchange for an agent‚ Maggie Bell (Missy Peregrym)‚ and holds her until the Bureau finds his daughter. While waiting for his daughter's rescue‚ Ramirez tells Bell that he came to America to protect his child. Ramirez: That's why we come here to America. It's for her. It's for her future. I can't lose her. [Crying] I can't. Bell: Okay‚ we're so close to finding her. Ramirez: Yeah‚ that's what I would say. I've worked sex trafficking cases. You either find the girl right away or-- [sobbing]  Criminals sex offenders crossing over our wide open border is one of the most disturbing consequences of unvetted illegals. This episode turns that problem on its head -- the illegal immigrant is instead a former cop who fought sex offenders.  Television procedurals almost never use true stories of sex criminals illegally entering the U.S as a plot device. Such horrors go against the open borders narrative and must be suppressed. The show ends with agents shooting the pedophile and safely rescuing Ramirez' daughter. The audience naturally feels pity for Ramirez and hopes he and his daughter will be reunited. The episode dutifully follows Hollywood television rules on illegal immigration: an illegal must be a sympathetic character whose situation tugs at your heart strings and the villains must be American white guys. In trying to manipulate an audience‚ FBI checked all the left-wing boxes this week. 

When the back of my cheap Amazon own-brand office chair snapped mid-meeting‚ I knew it was time for an upgrade. I’d heard a lot of good things about Secretlab at the time but wasn’t convinced it’d support my already bad back. However‚ after doing some research‚ specifically about the racing chair’s lumbar support‚ I decided to pull the trigger on the Secretlab Titan 2020 Ash. What I ended up with was one of the best gaming chairs I could find. With integrated adjustable lumbar support‚ 4D armrests‚ and a firm but supportive backrest‚ Secretlab has cemented itself as one of the key players in the space and I can’t see that changing any time soon. But is the Titan series right for you? Continue reading Secretlab Titan 2020 Ash review MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best graphics card‚ Best gaming PC‚ Best SSD for gaming

Thursday Morning Minute

Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a quatrefoil-shaped baptismal font from the 10th century in the collegiate church of St. Servatii in Quedlinburg‚ Saxony-Anhalt‚ Germany. It is the oldest quatrefoil baptismal font north of the Alps‚ and was likely used in the baptism of Ottonian dynasty rulers and family members. The base of the font emerged in an excavation of the crypt of the church where members of the Ottonian dynasty‚ kings of Germany and Holy Roman Emperors (919-1024)‚ were buried. Parts of the crypt predate the current collegiate church which was built in the 11th-12th century‚ and archaeologists with the State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology of Saxony-Anhalt (LDA) have been exploring the 10th century crypt to research‚ document‚ stabilize and preserve the structures underground built in the earliest period of development of the church. The quatrefoil shape was cut into the sandstone in the center of the room. Its walls are lined with plaster‚ fragments of an earlier floor used as bedding for the font. The room in which the baptismal font originally stood must have been the lay room of a sacred building. It is ruled out that there was a palatium (prestigious residential building) on ​​site at this time. The baptismal font belonged to a church and also dates from the oldest decades of the Stiftsberg’s medieval history in the Ottonian period‚ about which little is known so far. Although the places and dates of death of members of the ruling families are mentioned more frequently in contemporary written sources‚ information on baptism has actually not survived. This means that the present archaeological find is also an extremely rare structural evidence of the sacrament of baptism‚ which is important in Christianity and promises the hope of salvation. According to the Roman-Germanic pontifical in the 10th century‚ unlike today‚ baptism took place once a year‚ on Holy Saturday‚ as a collective baptism of infants or small children by immersion. The candidates for baptism were immersed in the water in the shape of a cross‚ in the present case in the direction of the quatrefoils‚ with their heads facing first to the east‚ then to the north and finally to the south. The baptismal formula “I baptize you in the name of God the Father‚ the Son and the Holy Spirit” was spoken. The ceremony was carried out by candlelight and incense and was accompanied by liturgical songs and litanies. A few days later‚ on the Saturday before White Sunday (the first Sunday after Easter)‚ the baptismal garment was finally removed again and the water was drained from the pool. It is conceivable that Duke Henry I of Bavaria (born around 922‚ died in 955)‚ who attempted to kill his brother‚ King Otto the Great‚ in an attack in Quedlinburg at Easter in 941‚ was baptized at the uncovered location. Mathilde (born 955‚ died 999)‚ the daughter of Emperor Otto the Great and Empress Adelheid and the first abbess of Quedlinburg Abbey‚ as well as Adelheid I (born 977; died 1044 in Quedlinburg)‚ the next abbess and daughter of the imperial couple‚ could also be here Otto II and the Byzantine Theophanu received the first and fundamental sacrament at this point. Mathilde‚ born in 955 and died in 999‚ not only was baptized in the crypt‚ but was buried there too. Her lead coffin with a gabled roof is in the crypt next to the coffins of her grandparents‚ including her grandmother and namesake who founded the abbey.

From solar eclipse glasses and viewers to solar binoculars and pinhole projection‚ there are plenty of ways to safely follow the moon's progress across the sun on April 8.

Recent observations show that some white dwarf stars suddenly stop cooling. Now‚ scientists propose a 'fountian of youth' mechanism that may explain how these stellar husks avoid death for billions of years.

Top O' the BriefingHappy Thursday‚ dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friend. Kerigbys preferred to do his bird watching clad in a lavender bodysuit and perched atop a roof of a poorly placed Applebee's. …

“There are‚ of course‚ a few sociopaths in every town‚ I suppose‚ but in a rural population of two or three thousand‚ that number is very small indeed – probably no more than the cartridges contained in a single .45 magazine.” – Mel Tappan The post The Editors’ Quote of the Day: appeared first on SurvivalBlog.com.

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from JWR. Our goal is to educate our readers‚ to help them to recognize emerging threats‚ and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. In today’s column‚ we look at the loss of arable farmland in the United States. Tennessee is Rapidly Losing Farmland ‘Where will we get our food?’ Tennessee on track to lose … The post The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods appeared first on SurvivalBlog.com.