According to Space.com, our galaxy munching on other galaxies’ stars is not exactly a new development. Puny humans have known about it since at least 2013, when the Hubble telescope revealed possible evidence of a phenomenon known as “galactic cannibalism.” Yes, that’s a real term they use. In fact, scientists believe that the Milky Way used to be smaller, but like an overzealous uncle at a Thanksgiving table, our home galaxy has been adding to its mass by straight up devouring smaller “satellite” galaxies.

Don’t worry, though — this doesn’t mean a bigger galaxy will saunter along any day now and gobble us up, Pac Man-style. The scale of this phenomenon is quite literally galactic and takes place over many eons, and the actual act of “cannibalism” appears to be more like the Milky Way adding to its mass by slapping a few extra star systems in its outer halo. So, it’s less of a brutal act of devouring conquest and more like … uh, a clay figure becoming bigger by adding tiny layers of extra clay to its surface over a period of time our tiny human minds can barely even perceive. Ok, yeah, we can see why they went with the cannibalism metaphor.