Did the Milky Way absorb a galaxy known as Loki?

The Milky Way might have eaten up a smaller galaxy called Loki, just like you might eat up a tiny cookie.

Imagine your favorite candy bar, it’s big and tasty. Now imagine a little gummy bear, it's small and sweet. If the gummy bear walked into the candy bar, it would get swallowed up, right? That’s kind of what happened with the Milky Way and Loki.

The Milky Way is like a giant cookie jar full of stars, planets, and space stuff. You can see it as a bright stripe in the night sky on some clear nights, it looks like milk spilled across the dark.

Loki was a smaller galaxy that floated near the Milky Way. Over time, the Milky Way pulled Loki toward it, just like a big magnet pulls a tiny paperclip. Eventually, Loki got so close that it got swallowed by the Milky Way, now it's part of our giant cookie jar!

So maybe you can say the Milky Way had a little snack, and Loki was the tasty gummy bear!