42 Stellar Streams around the Milky Way.
Stellar streams are groups of stars around a galaxy that have been 'stretched' as they orbit, since the ones initially closer to the galaxy orbit faster and race ahead.
They are the 'crumbs' left behind as a galaxy grows by eating smaller galaxies, and the different colors show 7 different galactic merger events (based on having similar orbits and compositions).
Created based on data from Khyati Malhan et al 2022, for the MPI for Astronomy.
You can read the press release here:
https://www.mpg.de/18263284/0217-astr...