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Our galaxy can breathe easy: Milky Way may not collide with Andromeda, says new research
The study still indicates a small chance, around 2 per cent, of a direct collision between Milky Way and Andromeda in 4 to 5 billion years. However, humanity will have long ceased to exist by then read more
Recent research based on data from the Hubble and ESA's Gaia space telescopes has cast doubts over the long-standing prediction about the collision and merger of the Milky Way with the Andromeda galaxy.
The findings suggest that this event is far less certain than previously believed by astronomers and experts.
Only 50% chance of collision in next 10 bn years
By carefully considering uncertainties in current measurements and including the gravitational effects of nearby galaxies (the Large Magellanic Cloud, which is a massive satellite galaxy currently merging with the Milky Way, and M33, or the Triangulum Galaxy, which orbits Andromeda), researchers discovered that in approximately half of their Monte-Carlo simulations, the Milky Way and Andromeda do not merge within the next 10 billion years.
This means there is only about a 50 per cent chance of the two galaxies merging in the next 10 billion years.
The galaxy images provided illustrate three potential scenarios for encounters between the Milky Way and Andromeda.
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In the top left panel, a wide-field Digitised Sky Survey (DSS) image of galaxies M81 and M82 exemplifies the Milky Way and Andromeda passing each other at large distances.
The top right panel shows NGC 6786, a pair of interacting galaxies exhibiting signs of tidal disturbances after a close encounter.
The bottom panel displays NGC 520, depicting two galaxies actively merging in a cosmic collision.
Animations predicting the collision of these two galaxies in about 4 billion years, followed by their merger 2 billion years later, do not account for uncertainties in various measured parameters.
Only 2% chance of direct collision in 5 bn years
The study still indicates a small chance, around 2 per cent, of a direct collision between the galaxies in 4 to 5 billion years.
However, humanity will have long ceased to exist by then, as the Sun will have rendered Earth uninhabitable in roughly 1 billion years.
This differs from previous analysis, which claimed the two galaxies would collide and create cosmic fireworks because they are moving towards each other at a pace of 2,24,000 miles per hour.
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