our galaxy, the Milky Way, crosses the universe at the speed of 1.3 million kilometers per hour. Your neighbour”, Andromeda either M31 It is 2.5 million light years away, but this will not always be the case.
The gigantic Andromeda galaxy is approaching us at about 110 kilometers per second, but given the distance, both will still take 4,000 billion years to collide.
This merger will form a giant elliptical galaxy. And given the extent of Andromeda’s halo in our direction, it’s already pushing the Milky Way’s galactic halo.
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Andromeda over the Sahara desert. Credits: Jordi L. Coy and NASA.
In any case, it is unlikely that humans will be around to see this spectacular light show, as by that time the Sun will have gotten so hot that it will have wiped out life on Earth.
According to the astronomer and scientific communicator Theresa Panequewhen galaxies interact and collide, “what mainly interacts and joins are the central black holes and all the material of the galaxy swirls, but stars, planets and individual objects rarely collide”.
Today’s astronomical fact, the Milky Way (our galaxy) is going to collide with the neighboring galaxy, Andromeda! #TereTeExplains when and how the phenomenon will look thanks to a beautiful simulation????????
At the end I show you how we think the variation in the night sky would be! ???? pic.twitter.com/apFGbROOAF
– Teresa Paneque Carreño???? (@terepaneque) August 5, 2022
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These types of events are quite normal. In fact, the Milky Way it was part of a major collision about 10 billion years ago and it is common for larger galaxies to absorb smaller ones into their orbit.