The Andromeda-Milky Way collision: if it happened tomorrow...
Andromeda-Milky Way collision - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
YouTube - Andromeda & Milky Way Galaxy Colide, Milky Way's Future
...do you think we would survive?
Of course, it is not going to happen for another 5 billion or so years, but what if it were to happen tomorrow? Would we be able to survive such a massive collision, or would we perish in an ultra-cataclysmic flash of apocalyptic supernova explosions?
Last edited by SuperMillionaire; 10-12-2010 at 08:02 PM.
Is that your final answer?
If anything came near us enough to impact our solar orbit very much, of course life on Earth wouldn't survive. There would (probably) be no big explosions, though; just a burning up or freezing of all life.
Originally Posted by SuperMillionaire
...bummer.Without intervention, by the time that the two galaxies collide, the surface of the Earth will have already become far too hot for liquid water to exist, ending all terrestrial life, which is currently estimated to occur in about 1 billion years due to gradually increasing warmth of the Sun.
I like Kung-Fu.
As a kid, I constantly feared an impact.
lol the hypothesis was 'if it happened tomorrow' - so the earth will be fine, until all of that matter messed with our orbit and etc, throwing everything out of whack before we melted ^_______^
You make it sound like an adorable event.
I like Kung-Fu.
I doubt the human race could survive unless we were far away from this planet, which could happen in a billion years.
I'm gonna need to pack my things and leave this planet for another galaxy immediately, then.
If it happened tomorrow I'd be happy to be rid of everyone else.
Because I imagine with my exposure to WNY weather, that I can survive anything.
I've heard plenty of debates on this issue. But considering the vast amounts of dead space involved, there's actually very little likelihood that we'd be one of the things anything would collide with. Considering the life on earth probably won't live that long, we won't be affected by this event when it does happen. But if it happened tomorrow, there's so much space between everything, you'd hardly notice if another star came between us and alpha centauri. The odds are surprisingly good. Galaxies may look dense and have billions of stars. But that's in a range of hundreds of thousands of lightyears. One analogy I heard was that if the sun was the size of the tip of a pin, then the galaxy would be the size of america. Another analogy I heard was that if the sun were the size of a baseball, then the next closest star would be in texas. Which is MORE than enough space for a star (or dozens) to fall through without hurting much
Granted gravity and orbits might be skewed a bit. The galaxy as a whole would definitely be impacted. But the planets that would orbit those stars would still be stuck to those stars. Worst case scenario is the dust clouds on the outer reaches of the star's gravitational pull get interrupted and start hailing meteors and comets into the solar system again
I guess if our orbit were to be knocked slightly off balance we'd be feeling that. If it happened tomorrow. Our sun is going to get really big and eat us before it happens for reals though.
If the rapture hasn't happened by then then I'm gonna be pissed
>>> I would love to see the galaxies meshing together with my very own eyes, who cares if we survive?..
>> The black orb glitters ominously... but nothing happens..
I can only imagine seeing the Andromeda galaxy covering the sky at night...
Such collisions are actually surprisingly common; Andromeda is believed to have collided with another galaxy in the past. In this case, it is predicted that the Milky Way and Andromeda will fuse together; thus, it will result in a galaxy merger.
Is that your final answer?
So you can roam the Earth free of the religious?If the rapture hasn't happened by then then I'm gonna be pissed
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