Scientists have long believed that the Milky Way, home of Earth, and the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) are on a collision course.
They are destined to join an amazing event, however study A new study by researchers from the Finnish University of Helsinki indicates that there is only a 50% chance of this happening within the next ten billion years.
Although estimates suggest that by the time of the collision, our sun will have long since used up its nuclear fuel and entered the red giant phase, which could lead to the end of life on the Earth as we know it, some scientists would like to describe it. this expected catastrophe leads to the destruction of humanity, as it If it happens, it will cause a great cosmic disturbance that will cause changes in the environment of our solar system.
To understand the predictions of scientists in the past and present, imagine that you are in a park and you see two children on bicycles going towards each other first, it seem to collide, but then you notice other kids going around, crossing paths, and even getting close enough to push the bikes apart a little, and -suddenly, it became more difficult to predict whether those two bikes would collide.
In this situation, the Milky Way and Andromeda are like two bicycles For a long time, astronomers believed that their paths would inevitably cross but now, scientists understand that there are other galaxies nearby – like children on other bicycles – that will affect the outcome. .These other galaxies, which are part of our Local Group, have their own gravity, which could drive the Milky Way and Andromeda away from each other, making an accident just as certain.
During the study published in the pre-print research site (ArXiv), the researchers took into account the gravitational influence of these neighboring galaxies, including the Triangle Galaxy (M33) and the Cloud Magellanic Cloud, because these galaxies act as invisible forces, which could exist. changing the direction of the Trail Galaxy.
But just as it is difficult to predict exactly where every bike will end up in a crowded park, there is a lot of uncertainty in predicting the movements of galaxies over billions of years.
So, although there is still a chance that the Milky Way and Andromeda will collide, it is not as certain as previously thought, and even if it were to happen, it would be as far in the future as come, long after our sun has burned out, that it might We don’t care.
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