What Will the Milky Way and Andromeda Collide Like?

The Andromeda Galaxy is one of the closest galaxies to our only galaxy, the Milky Way. So our neighbor… So big and bright, Although it is 2.5 million light years away We can see this huge galaxy even when we look at it with the naked eye. Of course, on a moonless night, when we look at a dark and calm sky with no city lights…

But this glamorous neighbor will be the end of our galaxy in the future. Moreover, we will be the end of it. Because the Milky Way and Andromeda will ‘collide’ about 4.5 billion years from now, and will come into existence. A large galaxy called “Milkomeda” or “Samandromeda” will come out. Of course, this ‘collision’ will not happen in two days; It will take approximately 7 billion years from today for the two galaxies to be fully intertwined and everything ‘fits in place’.

Andromeda is heading towards us at about 110 kilometers per second.

Although the Milky Way and Andromeda are unbelievably distant, they are actually quite close; they are in the same galaxy cluster. Since we are close to each other, there is a gravitational interaction between us.

This interaction is Andromeda’s about 110 kilometers per second (396,000 kilometers per hour)) come quickly towards us why is this happening. However, as we said above, even at a speed that sounds like a joke to us humans, there is still more than 4.5 billion years to the collision process…

Although there are various ideas about exactly how the collision will occur and what it will cause, the general framework has been drawn.

For now, the data obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope, especially in the past years, gives us that a complete collision in which two galaxies will intertwine is inevitable. is showing. According to this, the two galaxies will first pass tangent to each other after about 4 billion years and their outer parts will interact.

Afterwards, gravitational forces will pull the galaxies together and merger will occur. The completion of this process is about 7 billion years from now will find.

Still, scientists keep aside a scenario where the centers of the two galaxies do not collide, only the edges interact. But the strong one is the scenario we talked about first…

While these are happening, in the process of colliding galaxies, the Sun and all other stars that it will be thrown and sit in different orbits is being considered. So our Sun will not be where it is now.

However, another information given on this subject is as follows; this ‘collision’ will not cause the Sun and planets to disappear. Because no matter how much we refer to it as a ‘collision’, this is actually more interweaving of two galaxies.

Now that we have learned the general lines of the event, let’s come to our topic; If we had the chance to watch this eye-catching process from our planet, what would we see?

It is worth noting that; While these are happening, there is no possibility of life on Earth. Because before that, the Sun will start to turn into a red giant and in the process it will swallow the Earth. Even some studies; Due to increased radiation before the Sun swallows the Earth He already says that life on Earth will end. This is expected to happen within the next 1 billion years.

But ‘what if we could only see?’ There are images to answer your question. These images were created by NASA researchers and show the landscape in stages. Let’s see together…

This is exactly what Andromeda looks like from Earth today;

In 2 billion years, Andromeda will show itself well in our sky…

When 3.75 billion years pass, Andromeda will almost cover the sky. It will be accompanied by the Milky Way Galaxy.

With the contact of galaxies, after about 3.85 billion years, new star formations will begin and the sky will become such an incredible beauty;

Star formation will continue for thousands of years. Around 3.9 billion years, the exquisite scenery in the sky will become even more spectacular.

When 4 billion years have passed, Andromeda and the Milky Way will have come under the influence of gravity and the ‘collision’ will have literally started. Both galaxies will begin to stretch and bend

In 5 billion years, the cores of the two galaxies will appear in the sky like ‘balls of light’. This phase will also show the final moments before the centers merge and Andromeda and the Milky Way become one galaxy.

After 7 billion years, Andromeda and the Milky Way merge into a single elliptical galaxy. The exquisite light emanating from the huge and luminous core illuminates even the darkest nights.

There is also a video about how this wonderful event will happen in billions of years;