by APOD Robot » Mon Jun 06, 2022 4:05 am
Milky Way Galaxy Doomed: Collision with Andromeda Pending
Explanation: Will our Milky Way Galaxy collide one day with its larger neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy? Most likely, yes.
Careful plotting of slight displacements of M31's stars relative to background galaxies on recent
Hubble Space Telescope images indicate that the center of M31
could be on a direct
collision course with the center of our home
galaxy. Still, the errors in sideways velocity appear sufficiently large to admit a
good chance that the central parts of the two galaxies will miss, slightly, but will become
close enough for their outer halos to become gravitationally
entangled. Once that happens, the two galaxies will become bound,
dance around, and
eventually merge to
become one large
elliptical galaxy -- over the next few billion years.
Pictured here is a combination of images depicting the sky of a world (Earth?) in the distant future when the outer parts of each galaxy
begin to collide. The exact future of our Milky Way and the entire surrounding
Local Group of Galaxies is likely to remain an active
topic of research for years to come.
[url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220606.html] [img]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_220606.jpg[/img] [size=150]Milky Way Galaxy Doomed: Collision with Andromeda Pending[/size][/url]
[b] Explanation: [/b] Will our Milky Way Galaxy collide one day with its larger neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy? Most likely, yes. [url=https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2012ApJ...753....7S/abstract]Careful plotting[/url] of slight displacements of M31's stars relative to background galaxies on recent [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090525.html]Hubble Space Telescope[/url] images indicate that the center of M31 [i] could be [/i] on a direct [url=http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/31may_andromeda/]collision course[/url] with the center of our home [url=https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/galaxy/en/]galaxy[/url]. Still, the errors in sideways velocity appear sufficiently large to admit a [url=https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2012ApJ...753....8V/abstract]good chance[/url] that the central parts of the two galaxies will miss, slightly, but will become [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap211004.html]close enough[/url] for their outer halos to become gravitationally [url=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2fy2gotuh00/SgRcixI-rwI/AAAAAAAABcI/52z1tYRX5dg/s400/cats+entangled.jpg]entangled[/url]. Once that happens, the two galaxies will become bound, [url=https://youtu.be/fMNlt2FnHDg]dance around[/url], and [url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2012arXiv1205.6865V]eventually merge[/url] to [url=https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/654291main_p1220bk.jpg]become one[/url] large [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliptical_galaxy]elliptical galaxy[/url] -- over the next few billion years. [url=https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/milky-way-collide.html]Pictured here[/url] is a combination of images depicting the sky of a world (Earth?) in the distant future when the outer parts of each galaxy [url=https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008MNRAS.386..461C/abstract]begin to collide[/url]. The exact future of our Milky Way and the entire surrounding [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_group_of_galaxies]Local Group of Galaxies[/url] is likely to remain an active [url=https://arxiv.org/abs/1908.07278]topic of research[/url] for years to come.
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