The Andromeda and Milky Way Galaxy Collision has BEGUN!

 

Rogue planets black holes cannibal galaxies and more our home galaxy the milky way has been relatively safe or so we thought scientists predicted that in about 3.75 billion years from now our galaxy would eventually collide with andromeda our large spiral galaxy neighbor however new findings have shown that these predictions and the timeline may actually be totally wrong could we be looking at a major collision with the andromeda galaxy sooner or later than anticipated what would this mean for the world as we know it welcome the Science Reads and today we will take a look at some

 shocking new discoveries and answer some

 burning questions about Andromeda and its much debated collision with our milky way when worlds collide Andromeda and the Milky Way seem to have a strange relationship both of them have so much in common but at the same time the impending galactic collision between the two poses a great risk for both and could completely alter life as we know it our milky way belongs to the local group of galaxies of which andromeda is by far the largest our big bright neighbor was actually the first clue to scientists about the existence of other massive galaxies in the universe with a whopping size of 220 000 light years across and home to roughly 1 trillion stars way more than the milky way's 200 to 400 billion stars the spiral galaxy can actually be seen with the naked eye being 2.5 million light years away if you know where to look for it in the really makes Andromeda stand out from among the other galaxies in the local group is that this behemoth of a galaxy is actually hurtling through the cosmos at 6.8 miles per second andromeda seems to be getting closer with each passing moment and it's headed straight towards us a galaxy is born the milky way is in for a huge makeover after its destined collision with neighbor andromeda the aftermath of such a crash could completely alter not only both galaxies but the solar system and beyond when galaxies collide it sure makes for a spectacular show with a chaotic mess of stars crashing into each other and altering each other's orbits as of right now andromeda is visible only as a speck in the sky from our vantage point here on earth but in about 2 billion years it will eventually become a looming presence in the sky according to a report from nasa this is how the collision is likely to play out as Andromeda draws closer to us eventually its tidal pole will begin to distort the milky way as per the measurements provided by the Hubble Space Telescope

 since the galaxies are mostly just empty space when they do make their first close pass with each other there will be collisions between their stars at first the sky will be glowing brightly as compressed gas dust and other material will begin to collapse and form newer stars the galaxies will keep interacting with each other in this manner changing and shifting each other's shape and will finally warp and be completely stretched out gravity is the force that will finally pull both the giant neighbors together to a point where even their cores will be visible in the night sky then begins the merger of the two cores with the two spiral-shaped galaxies giving birth to a brand new oval-shaped galaxy one can't only imagine how bright the new galaxy would look against the backdrop of space when both galaxies

 joined together with their army of stars

 what would happen to the supermassive black holes of both the galaxies you ask well these lurking black holes at the center will end up forming some sort of binary right at the heart of the new galaxy the two merged black holes at the center are not likely to be stable causing them to spiral inwards and emit gravitational waves while doing so from then on they will begin to merge with scientists predicting that it would take another few million years in itself and what do you do when you merge the Milky Way and the andromeda galaxy the milk drama to galaxy of course researchers at the Pennsylvania State University were even able to develop a model map of what the amazing birth of the new galaxy would look like by taking into account dark matter and dark energy collision course galaxies often interact with each other and scientists have documented these collisions and mergers to get a better understanding of what might happen to our own collisions and mergers are essentially not a new phenomenon but when it comes to our milky way we sure have a lot to consider over the years there has been much debate over whether the galaxies will collide will it be the end of the world as we know it and if so when would it likely happen previous studies even suggested that it's not uncommon for old galaxies like the milky way and andromeda to collide or merge since our big neighbor is believed to have already been a part of a galactic collision before perhaps that's why it's so huge scientists and astronomers had predicted based on data from various

 space agencies and images through telescopes that in approximately 3.75 billion years our galaxy would collide with the andromeda galaxy the head on stellar collision was finally declared to be inevitable after years of debate and speculation in 2012 with scientists using data and measurements from the Hubble Space Telescope by tracking the motion of the stars in andromeda between the years 2002 to 2010 with subpixel accuracy since then it's been a widely accepted fact that the milky way has an expiration date set for 3.75 billion years and will collide with its galactic giant of a neighbor andromeda new discoveries a new article based on data release 2 from the ESA's Gaia Mission has provided some interesting new details as well as some much needed clarity on the future collision turns out there are many key details about the great collision that we got totally wrong what has now emerged is the fact that the scope of this collision reaches far beyond just the two big galaxies to understand

 the interaction and possible collisions

 between not only andromeda and the milky way but their other large neighbor the Triangulum Galaxy the Gaia Mission came up with a 3d map of the milky way and its neighboring galaxies in the local group with the help of this scientists have now actually been able to collect data required to know the spin rates for the galaxies moving through space helping them study the way they move evolve and interact with each other the study has also revealed a lot more about what's next for the milky way and andromeda rather than colliding in 3.75 billion years scientists have estimated with the help of more accurate measurements that it will happen in 4.3 to 4.5 billion years and unlike the previous predictions the

 collision is going to be more of a gradual merger rather than a head-on crash and will likely be less of a blow than we anticipated well folks looks like doomsday has officially been postponed for now the beginning of the end now that we know that we have some more time before the grand stellar collision it should help us sit back and relax right well actually as of right now the two galaxies have already begun to collide there is so much more to galaxies than just a flat disk of stars especially the envelope of gas and plasma around the galaxy that can extend for thousands and millions of light years we refer to this region as a galaxy's halo that scientists have been studying through the way that light filters through from

 distant objects like quasars for example

 which are bright and comparatively easier to observe using this method they were actually able to observe 43 quasars scattered around andromeda's halo and discovered that the large galaxy's halo stretches out much farther than previously thought this important information came from project amiga using the Hubble Space telescope and studying the surroundings of the andromeda galaxy what's truly amazing is that this discovery has led to the conclusion that andromeda's halo is already brushing up against the milky way this is actually much sooner than anticipated and is just the beginning of our galaxy's brush with its neighbor the galaxies are headed towards a collision in a few billion years but their outer edges are already touching almost like they're gently nudging each other's arms in a friendly gesture besides that measurements have shown how with each passing day andromeda gets closer and appears larger in the sky as it hurtles towards us could you imagine how cool it would be to see the galaxy up close and in all its glory the Triangulum galaxy will also have its own role to play in the collision but will more than likely end up orbiting the newborn galaxy Milkdromeda and could end up merging with it in the future the new discovery also opens up new avenues for research with the two galaxies already bumping into each other ahead of their impending collision unlike real-life business mergers it looks like the two have taken things into their own hands and decided to simply get on with it the findings and studies will also be able to help us understand our own galaxy better since the two share so many similarities and it's rather hard to study the milky way while being inside it a whole new world where would human life stand after the collision and merger of the two galaxies some people argue whether human life will even exist at all in a billion years what with the sun dying a slow death and possibly charring the earth to a crisp others are rather optimistic that human life would already have gone through so much because of climate change the sun expanding to the orbit of Venus and the galaxies being so sparsely spread that it wouldn't be as bad the sun however will take a brutal hit with the gravitational forces so strong it will fling the giant ball of gas into a completely new region of our galaxy and drastically change the course of life on earth that is of course if the sun hasn't already turned into a white dwarf honestly it's no wonder Elon Musk wants to build cities on mars sign me up though we won't be here to witness this grand collision and birth of a new galaxy it's worth noting that the outer boundaries of the galaxies are already touching and in a way we are already experiencing a part of it we may have gotten some more time before the big collision but when it comes to space nothing is ever black or white the collision is inevitable even if it's not as catastrophic as we once thought it has already been set in motion until then what the future holds for both these cosmic neighbors only time will tell so what do you think what are your predictions for the great collision let us know in the comments please like and share the article and don't forget to subscribe to our channel for awesome articles like this thanks for reading we'll see you next time