Collision of Andromeda and Milky Way

[Sriram]

Hi everyone,

Here is an interesting article with illustrations about the merger of Andromeda with the Milky Way that will happen about 5 billion years from now.  Collision has already started apparently.  This is based on Hubble measurements.

https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/earths-night-sky-milky-way-andromeda-merge/

No doubt we have more immediate matters such as Omicron to worry about...but interesting none the less.

Cheers.

Sriram

[Nearly Sane]

Thanks, Sriram, very interesting

[jeremyp]

I thought the first picture was going to be "the Andromeda Galaxy in a billion years or so", but no, it is how it would look today if it were bright enough.

[Walt Zingmatilder]

Hi everyone,

Here is an interesting article with illustrations about the merger of Andromeda and the Milky Way that will happen about 5 billion years .

Apparently Brexitters are already upset about it.

[Sriram]

I thought the first picture was going to be "the Andromeda Galaxy in a billion years or so", but no, it is how it would look today if it were bright enough.

Yes.....It is difficult to believe that we would actually see Andromeda at that scale, if it was brighter!

[torridon]

A shame we'll never see it

[Udayana]

A shame we'll never see it

Why? Do you mean Andromeda at that brightness in our sky or the collision? Or ...?
I expect that there are far more things that we will never see than there are things that we do or will see.
 

[jeremyp]

A shame we'll never see it

Not sure about that. If you're going to watch a road accident, inside one of the involved cars is not a good place to do it.

[torridon]

Not sure about that. If you're going to watch a road accident, inside one of the involved cars is not a good place to do it.

The chances of planetary collisions will be very low.  But it will make the skies very interesting

[Sriram]

The chances of planetary collisions will be very low.  But it will make the skies very interesting

The sky will really be interesting in 5 billion years, especially because the sun would have become a red giant probably covering the earth's orbit!