What if the Milky Method and Andromeda galaxies collide? : Brief Wave : NPR


A NASA visualization exhibiting the Milky Method and Andromeda at 4 billion years from now, in the event that they make an encounter.

Galaxy illustrations courtesy of NASA, ESA, Z. Levay and R. van der Marel (STScI) T. Hallas, and A. Mellinger. Visualization courtesy of NASA, ESA, and F. Summers (STScI)


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Galaxy illustrations courtesy of NASA, ESA, Z. Levay and R. van der Marel (STScI) T. Hallas, and A. Mellinger. Visualization courtesy of NASA, ESA, and F. Summers (STScI)


A NASA visualization exhibiting the Milky Method and Andromeda at 4 billion years from now, in the event that they make an encounter.

Galaxy illustrations courtesy of NASA, ESA, Z. Levay and R. van der Marel (STScI) T. Hallas, and A. Mellinger. Visualization courtesy of NASA, ESA, and F. Summers (STScI)

The Andromeda galaxy lies simply past (…OK, about 2.5 million light-years past) our galaxy, the Milky Method.

These galaxies are extra than simply neighbors: They’re gravitationally sure. And for the previous hundred years or so, scientists thought these galaxies existed in a long-term dance of doom — destined to crash into each other and mix into one large galactic soup.

However a current paper out within the journal Nature Astronomy suggests this cosmic recreation of bumper vehicles could by no means come to a head in any respect. NPR Brief Wave host Regina G. Barber chats with computational astrophysicist Arpit Arora to study extra in regards to the odds.

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This episode was produced by Rachel Carlson. It was edited by Rebecca Ramirez. Tyler Jones checked the information, and the audio engineer was Jimmy Keeley.

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