Andromeda On Collision Course With the Milky Way

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Andromeda On Collision Course With the Milky Way

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday May 31, 2012 @05:20PM from the demolition-galaxy dept.

ananyo writes "From the Nature story: 'The Andromeda galaxy will collide with the Milky Way about 4 billion years from now, astronomers announced today. Although the Sun and other stars will remain intact, the titanic tumult is likely to shove the Solar System to the outskirts of the merged galaxies. Researchers came to that conclusion after using the Hubble Space Telescope between 2002 and 2010 to painstakingly track the motion of Andromeda as it inched along the sky. Andromeda, roughly 770,000 parsecs (2.5 million light years) away, is the nearest large spiral galaxy to the Milky Way.'"

14 of 217 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

770,000 parsecs? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-31 17:30 · Score: 5, Funny

I thought parsecs was a unit of time though? So 770,000 parsecs is about 4 billion years?
So 12 parsecs is about 20 hours?
1. Re:770,000 parsecs? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-01 00:21 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  The WHOOSH is strong with this one.
2. Re:770,000 parsecs? by Ol+Biscuitbarrel · 2012-06-01 04:31 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  A bigger question is where will the /. editors find room to store all of these geek cards?
oh noews! by j-stroy · 2012-05-31 17:31 · Score: 4, Funny

can't we launch a mission to deflect it ? !
1. Re:oh noews! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-31 18:43 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Eh, the Sun itself only has about 4.5 billion years left in it...So Andromeda slamming into us might be a welcome change by then.
2. Re:oh noews! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-31 19:18 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Nope, this event is clearly unavoidable. There is no way we have enough time to relocate or divert it.
  What if we used a crack team of roughnecks?
Don't Panic by stms · 2012-05-31 17:32 · Score: 3, Funny

Stop Panicking!!! This is no time to panic... Though if you do panic try to hold on to that feeling because it is the proper response to being told that your galaxy is on a collision course with another galaxy.
Re:And this is news how? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-31 17:33 · Score: 5, Funny

This may not be news to you, but I'm thankful to know so I could cancel my tickets to The Book Of Mormon while they're still refundable.
Re:And this is news how? by Jeremiah+Cornelius · 2012-05-31 17:48 · Score: 5, Funny

Well, just in time to warn our Great^12 Grandchildren.
Maybe we could embed the message in some giant, black humming monolith, or something...

--
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Oh no! Not the Galaxy! by Cyberllama · 2012-05-31 17:56 · Score: 5, Funny

That's where I keep all my stuff!
AAAHHHHHH! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-31 18:08 · Score: 2, Funny

AAAAHHHHHHHHHH! *pause for breath* AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!
Re:don't panic, it's just the end of the world by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-31 19:14 · Score: 3, Funny

In real-time?
Did the computation really take 4 billion years?
Re:don't panic, it's just the end of the world by Hognoxious · 2012-05-31 20:43 · Score: 5, Funny

Yep, it was written in Java.
The first billion went while they were waiting for Eclipse to open.

--
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Re:Imagine by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-31 21:51 · Score: 0, Funny

The closer Andromeda gets, the more diffuse its structure will appear. It will just be a change in the shape of the Milky Way. I hope you will be reincarnated into a form that has no internet access. Soon.