THE ANDROMEDA-MILKY WAY COLLISION EXPLAINED

Image: Pixabay

Scientific community is abuzz with the news that Andromeda galaxy is approaching Milky Way at nearly a quarter million miles an hour

Image: Unsplash

Since the news broke, astronomers are trying to predict what will happen when the two giant galaxies eventually collide

Image: Pexels

The confirmation came from measuring the Doppler shift of the Andromeda Galaxy's spectral lines as it gets closer to Milky Way

Image: Pixabay

However, it will still take 4.5 billion years for the two galaxies to smash into each other

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But when the collision happens, it will lead to absolute chaos - astronomers will say it will create "Milkomeda"

Image: Pixabay

Andromeda galaxy contains about one trillion stars and the Milky Way about 300 billion

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Both the galaxies contain a supermassive black hole at the centre. In the event of a collision, these black holes will spiral into each other

Image: Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes

The central mass will start emitting strong gravitational waves and release an unconceivable amount of energy while merging

Image: Pixabay

Based on current calculation, scientists predict a 50% chance that the solar system will be swept out three times farther from its current position

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They also say that humanity would be long gone by then from Earth, which will be caught in the middle of this collision

Image: Pixabay

The surface of the Earth will have already become far too hot for liquid water to exist by that time and its view of the universe will never be the same

Image: Unsplash

Image: Pixabay

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