well for starters andromeda is heading towards us. in about 3 billion years itll collide with us. the collision will force the gas(stars) of each galaxy toward the center of each one and the black hole will start up again. they will start pulling on each other and and sucking in more and more untill they collide makeing a SUPER black hole and eventually it will stabilize. the earth isnt likeyl to survive this.
I wouldn't worry too much. In three billion years the sun's going to be on its way out, and life on earth will be getting pretty, ahem, interesting (assuming it's still around, of course). The two main effects will be: a prettier night sky, and certain doom. Probably in that order.
You know, this has always bothered me a little. If the universe is expanding from some central point where the big bang took place, then how is it that structures as large as Galaxies can collide? Shouldn't they all be following their own radial line from the center of the Big Bang and isn't it true that those lines shouldn't intersect?
Galaxies colliding is an interesting topic...more to come later. As for the fate of the Earth, don't worry so. Most of galaxies are made up of immense space. While the structure of both galaxies are usually deformed the majority of stars and planets go through without any notice of the collision. It is only when a star becomes very close to the locale of another that there is any effect whatever. This is actually quite rare. I have some pictures I will post on this subject when time permits...
Muahahaha.... The plan is working! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
SeekerOfTruth, Actually, the Big Bang occured at all points simultaneously making all points central to the expansion of spacetime.
Re: SeekerOfTruth, OK, I think I understand that, but doesn't that imply that each and every "point" in spacetime is moving away from each and every other point with a constant(increasing? decreasing?) velocity and only if the "mass" of spacetime is great enough will each and every point one day intersect with each other?
Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Spiral Galaxy NGC 3310 Across the Visible Credit: G. R. Meurer (JHU) et al., Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), NASA The party is still going on in spiral galaxy NGC 3310. Roughly 100 million years ago, NGC 3310 likely collided with a smaller galaxy causing the large spiral galaxy to light up with a tremendous burst of star formation. The changing gravity during the collision created density waves that compressed existing clouds of gas and triggered the star-forming party. The above image composite by the Hubble Space Telescope was used to find the ages of many of the resulting clusters of stars. To the surprise of many, some of the clusters are quite young, indicating that starburst galaxies may remain in star-burst mode for quite some time. NGC 3310 spans about 50,000 light years, lies about 50 million light years away, and is visible with a small telescope towards the constellation of Ursa Major Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! The Cartwheel Galaxy Credit & Copyright: S. Lee & D. F. Malin, AAO By chance, a collision of two galaxies has created a surprisingly recognizable shape on a cosmic scale. The Cartwheel Galaxy is part of a group of galaxies about 500 million light years away in the constellation Sculptor. Two smaller galaxies in the group are visible on the left of the above photograph. The Cartwheel's rim is an immense ring-like structure 100,000 light years in diameter composed of newly formed, extremely bright, massive stars. When galaxies collide, they pass through each other -- their individual stars rarely come into contact. The galaxies' gravitational fields, however, may be greatly distorted by the collision. In fact, the ring-like shape is the result of the gravitational disruption caused by a small intruder galaxy passing through a large one, compressing the interstellar gas and dust, and causing a wave of star formation wave to move out from the impact point like a ripple across the surface of a pond. In this case, the large galaxy may have originally been a spiral, not unlike our own Milky Way Galaxy, transformed by the collision. Recent astronomical detective work has indicated what has become of the intruder. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! NGC 1410/1409: Intergalactic Pipeline Credits: William C. Keel (Univ. Alabama, Tuscaloosa), NASA These two galaxies are interacting in a surprising way, connected by a "pipeline" of obscuring material that runs between them over 20,000 light-years of intergalactic space. Silhouetted by starlight, the dark, dusty ribbon appears to stretch from NGC 1410 (the galaxy at the left) and wrap itself around NGC 1409 (at right). A mere 300 million light-years distant in the constellation of Taurus, the pair's recent collision has likely drawn out this relatively thin lane of material which is only about 500 light-years wide. Though the Hubble Space Telescope image dramatically illustrates how galaxies exchange matter when they collide, it also presents challenges to current pictures of galaxy evolution. The titanic collision has triggered star formation in NGC 1410 as evidenced by its blue star forming regions, yet NGC 1409 remains devoid of hot, young blue stars even though observations indicate that material is flowing into it. Bound by gravity, these two galaxies are doomed to future collisions, merging over time into one. Worry more about this one.... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! A Close Encounter Of The Stellar Kind Credit: Digitized Sky Survey, SkyView The unassuming star centered in this sky view will one day be our next door stellar neighbor. The faint 9th magnitude red dwarf, currently 63 light-years away in the constellation Ophiucus, was recently discovered to be approaching our Solar System. Known in catalogs of nearby stars as Gliese (Gl) 710 it is predicted to come within nearly 1 light-year of the Sun ... about 1.5 million years from now. At that distance this star, presently much too faint to be seen by the naked eye, will blaze at 0.6 magnitude - rivaling the apparent brightness of the mighty red giant Antares. Ultimately Gliese 710 poses no direct collision danger itself although its gravitational influence will likely scatter comets out of the Solar System's reservoir, the Oort cloud, sending some inbound. This future stellar encounter was discovered by researchers Joan Garcia-Sanchez and Robert Preston (JPL), and collaborators while studying stars in the solar neighborhood using data from the Hipparcos Astrometry Satellite. The star field shown is based on the Palomar Digitized Sky Survey and is 1/4 degree wide (about half the diameter of the full moon).
Yes.But how about stoping somewhere and retracting causing the colapse of every galaxie and then it is born again. Stupid thought.Don't you think? It is called oscillating universe.
Er, when two galaxies collide, nothing interesting in particular happens to an individual point. There is so much space between solar systems that nothing much would happen. If our two galaxies collided right now, you probably wouldnt notice except there would be a few more visible stars. The only noticable change would be from the outside of the galaxy.