Milky Way family tree

Galaxy merger tree of the Milky Way inferred by applying the insights gained from the E-MOSAICS simulations to the Galactic globular cluster population. The main progenitor of the Milky Way is denoted by the trunk of the tree, coloured by its stellar mass. Black lines indicate the five identified satellites. Grey dotted lines illustrate other mergers that the Milky Way is predicted to have experienced, but could not be linked to a specific progenitor. From left to right, the six images along the top of the figure indicate the identified progenitor galaxies: Sagittarius, Sequoia, Kraken, the Milky Way’s Main progenitor, the progenitor of the Helmi streams, and Gaia-Enceladus-Sausage.