article_snippet: Astronomers have discovered that a strange ring of distant stars may actually be part of our galaxy, making it 50 per cent bigger at 150,000 light-years wide.
article_snippet: This is based on re-analysis of a distant ring that surrounds our galaxy, which Astronomers in New York think is now actually part of the Milky Way.
article_snippet: This is based on re-examining a ring of stars in the so-called Monoceros Ring .
article_snippet: The team of scientists from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York studied the Monoceros Ring, which is a long ring-like filament of stars that ‘wraps’ around our galaxy three times.
article_snippet: Now, however, it seems that the ring may actually be part of our own galaxy, and could have been disturbed by other dwarf galaxies.
article_snippet: Another ring, known as the TriAnd Ring, may also be part of the Milky Way, further increasing its size.
article_snippet: To verify Another ring, known as the TriAnd Ring theory, astronomers will use data from Europe’s Gaia telescope, which is also mapping stars in the Milky Way.
article_snippet: Previously the Monoceros Ring was thought to be a stream of stars torn from the nearby Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy due to interactions with the Milky Way (illustration shown). 
article_snippet: Now, however, it seems that the Monoceros Ring may actually be part of our own galaxy, and could have been disturbed by other dwarf galaxies .
highlights_snippet: This is based on re-examining a ring of stars called the Monoceros Ring .
  