According to a new study by a group of researchers, the cosmic collision once thought to be inevitable between the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy is now just a coin flip.
Read the tweet below this post.
New scientific data revealed the fate of the galactic home is far less certain than previously believed, throwing into question years of established astronomical predictions about the universe’s future.
An international team led by Til Sawala from the University of Helsinki, Finland, has calculated that the Milky Way has only a 50-50 chance of colliding with the Andromeda galaxy within the next 10 billion years.
This finding, published in Nature Astronomy, dramatically reduces the collision probability from what scientists previously considered nearly certain.
The researchers arrived at this conclusion using cutting-edge simulations based on NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope data and the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission.
“In short, the probability went from near-certainty to a coin flip,” the researcher stated.
Their work represents the most precise analysis yet of the galaxy’s future, taking into account gravitational influences from nearby galaxies that previous models overlooked.
While liberal elites and climate alarmists constantly fearmonger about Earth’s immediate future, this research puts cosmic events in proper perspective.
According to the study, a head-on collision between the Milky Way and Andromeda is extremely unlikely, with less than a 2% chance.
Even if the galaxies do approach each other, they must come within 500,000 light-years to trigger a merger.
Furthermore, the study incorporated more precise data than ever before and considered the effects of the Large Magellanic Cloud, the Milky Way’s largest satellite galaxy.
Interestingly, researchers determined that the Milky Way is more likely to merge with this smaller galaxy than with Andromeda within the next two billion years.
Previous theories suggested a collision within 5 billion years, forming a new galaxy called “Milkomeda.” Now that timeline and certainty have been upended.
Perhaps this is a reminder that even scientific “consensus” is subject to dramatic revision when new evidence emerges.
Meanwhile, the Sun itself is expected to die in about 5 billion years, potentially engulfing Earth, making any galaxy collision timeline largely irrelevant for humanity.
As scientists continue to research and refine their predictions about the galaxy’s fate, these findings invite astronomers and curious minds alike to imagine the incredible spectacle the galactic merger would present.
Great question! Our Milky Way galaxy will likely collide with the neighboring Andromeda galaxy four billion years from now. Our Sun will fling into a new region of our galaxy, but our Earth and solar system are in no danger of being destroyed. https://t.co/ZrFeJMemRi
— NASA (@NASA) January 30, 2023
