Andromeda Will Collide With the Milky Way
Stars in our galaxy gleam brightly for us when we gaze into the night sky. I find it hard to believe that one day everything we see out there will be over. The entire Milky Way Galaxy and even our entire solar system will cease to exist. In this very moment, we are experiencing an incoming galaxy called Andromeda.
It’s frightening, but there’s something else very startling: the collision of these two galaxies is much closer than we had anticipated! Will humanity survive if Andromeda collides with the Milky Way?
What will happen if Milky Way and Andromeda collide?
A galactic collision could have a more profound impact than you think. Have you noticed that bright object in the sky? That is Andromeda, the nearest major galaxy to our Milky Way.
It is the most distant object you can observe with the naked eye. And… it is speeding toward us at 110 km/s (68 miles/s). A massive galactic collision will eventually bring Andromeda and our Milky Way together billions of years from now.
Will Earth be destroyed when the Milky Way and Andromeda collide?
There is no threat to Earth from the Andromeda galaxy. There are only two possible scenarios in which the Earth could be destroyed during the slow-motion collision between the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies. Either it collides with a massive body (either a planet or a large moon) orbiting a star, or it falls into one of the stars itself.
Our descendants may see quite a show in the night sky if Homo sapiens can survive on Earth for another two billion years.
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