Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                 2022 June 6
    [2]The featured image is a combination graphic showing the Andromeda
   galaxy on approach toward our Milky Way galaxy, set for a collision in
    about 4.5 billion years. Please see the explanation for more detailed
                                information.

          Milky Way Galaxy Doomed: Collision with Andromeda Pending
     Image Credit: [3]NASA, [4]ESA, [5]Z. Levay and [6]R. van der Marel
                ([7]STScI); [8]T. Hallas; and [9]A. Mellinger

   Explanation: Will our Milky Way Galaxy collide one day with its larger
   neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy? Most likely, yes. [10]Careful plotting
   of slight displacements of M31's stars relative to background galaxies
   on recent [11]Hubble Space Telescope images indicate that the center of
   M31 could be on a direct [12]collision course with the center of our
   home [13]galaxy. Still, the errors in sideways velocity appear
   sufficiently large to admit a [14]good chance that the central parts of
   the two galaxies will miss, slightly, but will become [15]close enough
   for their outer halos to become gravitationally [16]entangled. Once
   that happens, the two galaxies will become bound, [17]dance around, and
   [18]eventually merge to [19]become one large [20]elliptical galaxy --
   over the next few billion years. [21]Pictured here is a combination of
   images depicting the sky of a world (Earth?) in the distant future when
   the outer parts of each galaxy [22]begin to collide. The exact future
   of our Milky Way and the entire surrounding [23]Local Group of Galaxies
   is likely to remain an active [24]topic of research for years to come.

                    Tomorrow's picture: altar of dragons
     __________________________________________________________________

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    Authors & editors: [36]Robert Nemiroff ([37]MTU) & [38]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([39]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [40]Specific rights apply.
              [41]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [42]ASD at [43]NASA / [44]GSFC
                           & [45]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2206/M31MwBang_NASA_1280.jpg
   3. https://www.nasa.gov/
   4. https://esahubble.org/
   5. https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/images/2018/41/4226-Image.html
   6. https://www.stsci.edu/~marel/
   7. https://www.stsci.edu/
   8. http://mstecker.com/pages/apphallas_t.htm
   9. http://people.se.cmich.edu/melli1a/astronomy.html
  10. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2012ApJ...753....7S/abstract
  11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090525.html
  12. http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/31may_andromeda/
  13. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/galaxy/en/
  14. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2012ApJ...753....8V/abstract
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap211004.html
  16. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2fy2gotuh00/SgRcixI-rwI/AAAAAAAABcI/52z1tYRX5dg/s400/cats+entangled.jpg
  17. https://youtu.be/fMNlt2FnHDg
  18. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2012arXiv1205.6865V
  19. https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/654291main_p1220bk.jpg
  20. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliptical_galaxy
  21. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/milky-way-collide.html
  22. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008MNRAS.386..461C/abstract
  23. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_group_of_galaxies
  24. https://arxiv.org/abs/1908.07278
  25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220605.html
  26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  29. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  34. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=220606
  35. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220607.html
  36. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  37. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  38. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  39. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  40. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  41. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  42. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  43. https://www.nasa.gov/
  44. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  45. http://www.mtu.edu/