Though the Milky Way is taking a good beating from nearby
mini-galaxies that sometimes slam into it, our galaxy is not likely to de
destroyed by this process as some scientists had predicted, a new study finds.

Circling around the
Milky Way are between 20 and 25 known satellite dwarf
galaxies, which are smaller clumps of stars bound in orbit around the Milky
Way by gravitational attraction.

Some pessimists
predicted the Milky Way was doomed to a grizzly death by dismemberment if enough
of these galaxies collide with it. In fact, scientists think many satellite
galaxies have already rammed into the Milky Way, though so far it has endured.

A new computer simulation indicates that rather than tearing
apart a galaxy, collisions with dwarf galaxies serve to puff up the host's
pancake-shaped galactic disk. Indeed, evidence of this puffiness has been found
in the form of rings and flares of stars around the edges of other galaxies'
disks.

"Our simulations showed that the satellite galaxy
impacts don't destroy spiral galaxies — they actually drive their evolution, by
producing this flared shape and creating stellar rings — spectacular rings of
stars that we've seen in many spiral galaxies in the universe," said study
leader Stelios Kazantzidis, an astronomer at Ohio State University.

Though our galaxy may not be in danger from dwarf galaxies,
astronomers do expect it to eventually collide with the nearest full-size
galaxy, Andromeda. In a few billion years, the two spirals should smash into
each other head on.

"The collision with Andromeda is a collision between
two essentially equal-mass galaxies, whereas satellite bombardment involves
encounters with much smaller systems compared to the Milky Way,"
Kazantzidis told SPACE.com.

Luckily, even that fender bender doesn't necessarily spell
the end for the galaxies' inhabitants. Stars are generally spaced wide enough
apart within the galaxies that after the merger, most individual stars should
intermingle without actually crashing into each other.

In fact, the merging will likely set off a firestorm of new
star formation, adding to the richness of the two melded galaxies.

The new simulation helps scientists understand how smaller
collisions affect a galaxy's development.

"We can't know for sure what's going to happen to the
Milky Way, but we can say that our findings apply to a broad class of galaxies
similar to our own," Kazantzidis said.

The model is the most detailed to date of collisions between
spiral galaxies and satellites. It revealed the kind of detailed features that
should result from these impacts, which align well with observed characteristics
of other galaxies seen in the universe.

"Every spiral galaxy has a complex formation and
evolutionary history," Kazantzidis said. "We would hope to understand
exactly how the Milky Way formed and how it will evolve. We may never succeed
in knowing its exact history, but we can try to learn as much as we can about
it, and other galaxies like it."

The research is detailed in two papers published in the
Astrophysical Journal in August 2009 and November 2008.

Video:
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Theory Explains Mysterious Dark Galaxies
 

Original Story: Milky Way Expected to Survive a BeatingSPACE.com offers rich and compelling content about space science, travel and exploration as well as astronomy, technology, business news and more. The site boasts a variety of popular features including our space image of the day and other space pictures,space videos, Top 10s, Trivia, podcasts and Amazing Images submitted by our users. Join our community, sign up for our free newsletters and register for our RSS Feeds today!

MORROW, Ga. – Talk about a one-man stimulus package: Grammy-winning rapper Ludacris has given away 20 cars to people who wrote about their struggles to keep their jobs for a lack of wheels of their own.
Ludacris said he was taken aback after reading thousands of essays by people struggling or unable to buy cars needed to get to and from work or find jobs. The 31-year-old rapper felt he could step in and move them ahead, partnering with a suburban Atlanta dealership for Sunday's giveaway.
"People are getting laid off, and now are looking for jobs," Ludacris said. "To be efficient, you need some transportation of your own to get there. That's why I wanted to give back to those who need it."
Each of the used vehicles included free gas for 30 days. Winning contestants were responsible for tags, registration, tax and insurance. About 4,000 contestants submitted a 300-word essay to the rapper's foundation, explaining why they deserved a car.
One of the most touching stories Ludacris read was by Mading Duor.
Duor described how he moved to the United States six years ago after his mother, father, and five brothers and sisters were killed in Sudan. The man also wrote that a son was killed by a drunken driver in Atlanta a few years back.
"His story touched my heart," Ludacris said. "He's endured so much in his life and he's still here standing. I'm very proud to have helped him."
Duor, 33, has been able to keep a steady job at a school, but each day he felt stressed about how he was going to get to work. No longer.
"I'm so happy, that I'm nervous," said Duor, who won a Nissan Maxima. "When I look at my new car, I say to myself, 'Is this really happening?'"
Crystal Beauford, a single mother who used to ride the bus to two jobs and school, now has a Saturn Ion. The 26-year-old college student doesn't know how to drive the stick-shift vehicle, but said she'll learn.
"This is going to help me out so much," Beauford said. "It's a blessing."
Ludacris won Grammys for Best Rap Album for "Release Therapy" and Best Rap Song for "Money Maker."
___
On the Net:
http://www.theludacrisfoundation.org/

NEW YORK – Wycliffe Johnson, a keyboardist and producer known as "Steely" who helped to steer Jamaican music for nearly two decades and to modernize the dancehall genre, has died. He was 47.
Johnson died Tuesday at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital in Patchogue, N.Y., following a heart attack, longtime friend and fellow producer Cleveland Browne said Sunday.
Johnson, who lived in Kingston, Jamaica, had been diagnosed with kidney failure last December while in New York City, where he had sought specialized medical care, Browne said. Doctors told Johnson he had a blood clot in his brain.
Although Johnson was best known for helping to produce numerous hits in Jamaica during the 1980s and 1990s, he first drew acclaim as a keyboardist on Sugar Minott's 1978 album "Ghetto-ology," and later as a member of Roots Radics, a pioneering early 1980s dancehall band. As an 18-year-old, he played keyboards on Bob Marley's recording of "Trench Town."
Johnson then joined with Browne, and the duo became known as "Steely & Clevie." They went on to help transform dancehall — a rawer, more sparse variant of reggae — with their early embrace of digital studio technology.
Besides working with top Jamaican talent, the duo collaborated with global acts such as No Doubt and Heavy D. They also helped Sean Paul and Sasha on their 2004 chart-maker "I'm Still in Love With You."
Johnson was born Aug. 18, 1962, and had 10 brothers and sisters. He began playing the piano when he was 9 or 10, but had no formal musical training, said his mother, Alice Johnson.
By the time he was about 14, he was already playing in concerts with a band, she said. At one show, her son was dwarfed by all the other group members.
"He was the smallest one," his mother said Sunday. "And they took a jacket and put it on him, and because he was so short at the time, the jacket came right down to his foot."
Browne said that he and Johnson had been working on a tribute album of Jamaican reggae classics from the 1960s and 1970s, but that it was put on hold in late 2008 because of Johnson's declining health. Browne said he's unsure whether the album will ever be released.
Johnson was survived by five children. A service for him is scheduled for Sept. 12 at the Swallowfield Chapel in St. Andrew, Jamaica.
___
Associated Press Writer Howard Campbell in Kingston, Jamaica, contributed to this report.

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) –
The US ambassador to the United Nations on Wednesday warned Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi to behave when he attends the UN General Assembly later this month.

Susan Rice said most Americans had been offended by the hero's welcome Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, a former Libyan spy suffering from prostate cancer, received on his return to Tripoli after his release from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds.

"This is a very raw and sensitive subject for all Americans," she told reporters at UN headquarters.

"How president Khadafi chooses to comport himself when he attends the General Assembly and the Security Council (sessions) in New York has the potential to either further aggravate those feelings and emotions or not," the US envoy said.

"We are are certainly hoping this will be an opportunity for a constructive General Assembly session and meeting of the Security Council."

The 57 year-old al-Megrahi was the only man convicted of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 above the Scottish town of Lockerbie on December 21, 1988, which killed 270 people, including 189 Americans.

He received a jail term of at least 27 years in 2001 and served eight years before his August 20 release, which has drawn a furious US reaction, both from President Barack Obama's administration and families of the US victims of the bombing.

Rice also reminded Khadafi that the Security Council meeting to be chaired by US President Barack Obama on September 24 would be focused on nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament.

"It would be out of order and inappropriate for any head of state to address topics unrelated to that," she warned.

"We want to be respectful of the heads of state in attendance and we have asked and we expect and have been assured by most delegations that their heads of state will keep their remarks to five minutes or less and we expect no less from President Khadafi if he comes," Rice added.

For the first time in his 40 years in power, Kadhafi is also to speak at the annual UN General Assembly session on September 23, right after Obama.