My Wonder question:
When and what will happen when the Andromeda galaxy hits the Milky Way, and what will happen to Earth?
In approximately 4 billion years, our galaxy, the Milky Way, and our neighboring galaxy, Andromeda, will collide. Andromeda is the closest known galaxy to ours, and is close to 12 billion years old. It shares similar traits to the Milky way, as both galaxies are “spiral-shaped” galaxies. Andromeda has over 1 trillion stars, while the Milky Way has roughly 100 billion. Currently, both galaxies are speeding towards each other at a startling speed of 402,000 kilometers an hour (113 km a second), but wont collide for another 4 billion years (2.5 million light-years.)
The Andromeda galaxy is 200,000 light-years in diameter, which makes it much larger then our galaxy. As the collision of the two galaxies grows closer, scientists wonder, what will happen to Earth? Around the time when the collision is set to occur, Earth will have grown too hot due to pollution, ending all terrestrial life. If, somehow, life is still imminent on Earth, the Sun will have grown into a new stage of its life. This means the heat from the Sun will be so strong all lifeforms on Earth will not be able to withstand it, the end result being no life at all on Earth. As the galaxies collide, the night sky will be a amazing sight of light and stars merging into one.
Scientists predict that the centers of the two galaxies will meet in 4 billion years, but the merging has already begun on the outer edges of each galaxy. Each galaxy has a “galactic halo” which is made of gas, dust, and stray stars. Scientists measured the halo of the Andromeda only to find that Andromedas galactic halo is almost double the size of the visible center we are able to see. This means that the undetectable edge of Andromeda, and the undetectable edge of the Milky Way, are already merging together as we speak. Although this may seem like the collision will happen earlier then predicted, experts at NASA have confirmed, at the rate the galaxies are moving, if they maintain their speed, the collision will happen far, far in the future.
Earth will be in a very fragile state before the collision occurs. As the Sun continues to age, and gain heat, it will change form. Around the time the collision is set to occur, the Sun will have grown into a red giant, large enough to engulf Mercury and Venus. This means the heat from the Sun will make Earth inhabitable, not just because of the intense heat, but the constant solar flares (brief eruptions from the suns surface), burning our planet to the core piece by piece.
In conclusion, the collision between Andromeda and the Milky Way is inevitable, and will be the end of the Milky Ways life, as both galaxies are predicted to merge together to create a even larger galaxy. As the Earth continues to warm up as well as the Sun, life on Earth may not have as long of time as we think. As the two galaxies speed towards each other, the future of our galaxy and Earth is in times hands.
Written by Raihan Chung
Video of Andromeda from Earth:
Sources:
https://earthsky.org/space/earths-night-sky-milky-way-andromeda-merge/
https://www.britannica.com/place/Andromeda-Galaxy
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/scientists-predict-our-galaxys-death
https://www.learnastronomyhq.com/articles/what-will-happen-to-us-when-andromeda-hits.html
Great job on the detailed research. The images and video completmented the project well. Good topic choice that was explained really well. A bit scary that the two galaxys will collide eventually!
Very formal and informative, easy to understand and very interesting to read.
It’s mind-boggling to consider how fast something is hurtling at us at almost 400,000 km/h. Incredible