When Galaxies Tug: The Fragile Dance of the Milky Way’s Satellite Plane
Pilipenko and Arakelyan study how Andromeda’s gravity affects the Milky Way’s “thin plane” of satellite galaxies. Using simulations based on cosmological models, they find that environmental forces can destabilize this plane within 2–3 billion years. While inner satellites remain stable, distant ones drift away, suggesting the plane is a temporary structure shaped by the Milky Way’s interaction with its cosmic neighborhood.
Unveiling the Structure of Milky Way Satellite Planes: Exploring Planarity in a Cosmic Context
The study introduces "planarity" to assess the alignment of Milky Way satellite galaxies, finding significant positional but inconclusive kinematic coherence due to velocity data errors. Simulations reveal that such planarity is common and kinematically supported in MW-like galaxies, aligning with the ΛCDM model. This suggests satellite planes are shaped by cosmic web structures and are consistent with hierarchical galaxy formation theories.