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BY LOGAN TITTLE
It’s the end of the world as we know it — well, as far as scientists have figured
out.
Here’s KTBC.
“…observations from the Hubble Space telescope detail a long anticipated galactic smash up.
The Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies are moving closer at speeds of 250,000 miles an hour.”
That’s how fast you would have to be moving to get from here to the moon in an hour.
But don’t rush to dig up your bucket list just yet — The Los Angeles Times says astronomers
expect it’ll take about four billion years to happen.
“The galaxy’s gradual sideways movement is really hard to measure because, on the
short human time scale, Andromeda almost doesn’t seem to budge. Over a few billion years, though,
such minimal movement would make a big difference.”
Space.com shows an animation of the two galaxies colliding. Once the galaxies reach each other,
it will take an additional two billions years to merge, forming a new galaxy astronomers
are calling an “elliptical galaxy.”
So, when Andromeda arrives, what’s going to happen to Earth? KIRO reports it’ll probably
be OK—unfortunately people might not be so lucky.
“Earth and our solar system will likely be spared. However, humans may not be able
to live here when it happens. Scientists say our sun will likely be flung into a new region
in the galaxy.”
The Atlantic reveals researchers have known the galaxies were getting closer, but they
weren’t too sure if they would actually crash into each other until now, thanks to
the Hubble Space Telescope.