Milky Way facing a mid-life crisis

Our Milky Way is suffering from a mid-life crisis and will slow down its production of stars over the next billion years, say planetary scientists. Galaxies typically fall into one of the two categories - energetic blue galaxies that form new stars at an impressive rate, or lethargic red galaxies which are slowly dying. But, a team at Swineburne University of Technology has shown our own Milky Way galaxy is neither of these. Rather it is a rare "green valley" galaxy that is half way between a youthful blue galaxy and a geriatric red one. This is the first time that the scientists have compared both the colour and the star formation rate of the Milky Way to that of other galaxies in the Universe, the 'Astrophysical Journal' reported.