Hubble times Milky Way and Andromeda galaxy prang

Astronomers have used the Hubble Space Telescope to work out when precisely our Milky Way Galaxy will crash into its neighbour, Andromeda.

Hubble times Milky Way and Andromeda galaxy prang 6062843860628433

The pair are being pulled together by their mutual gravity and the scientists expect them to begin to merge in about four billion years' time.

A further two billion years on and they will appear as a single entity.

Our Sun's position will be disturbed but the star and its planets are in little danger of being destroyed.

Viewed from Earth, however, the night sky should look fairly spectacular. That is assuming, of course, that a human species is still around billions of years into the future to look upwards.

Roeland van der Marel Space Telescope Science Institute

"Today, the Andromeda Galaxy appears to us on the sky as a small fuzzy object that was first seen by ancient astronomers more than one thousand years ago," said lead researcher Roeland van der Marel from the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, US.

Hubble times Milky Way and Andromeda galaxy prang

Hubble times Milky Way and Andromeda galaxy prang

Anarcho-Capitalist Categorical Imperatives

AnCaps In Science, Technology & Environment