Milky Way and Andromeda: A 90% Likely Merger ⚡ экспресс
Original: "The Fate of the Milky Way--Andromeda System: To Merge or Not?"
Data from the Gaia telescope showed that the sideways motion of the Andromeda galaxy is negligible—the chance of its merger with the Milky Way has reached 90%.
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Amazingly, our galaxy and the neighboring Andromeda could miss each other if the latter moves slightly sideways. But fresh Gaia data says: there’s almost no sideways speed! The chance of a grand merger in 6.5 billion years is 90%. Cosmic billiards: satellite galaxies play along with the collision.
🎯 Galaxy mergers don’t destroy—they create: millions of new stars are born from gas and dust, like a fireworks display lasting billions of years.
🎬 In science fiction, such as the series ‘Star Trek’, such mergers are sometimes depicted as arenas of battle. In reality, it’s not a collision but a slow blending—like two immense bird flocks merging into one.