Galactic Doom: Closer Than We Thought

[EnolaGaia]

It was previously believed we'd have another 4 to 5 <sagan>BILL-ion</sagan> years before our Milky Way galaxy collided with the Andromeda Galaxy.

New research suggests our galaxy will get severely disrupted by colliding with one of its neighboring Magellanic Clouds in a mere 2 <sagan>BILL-ion</sagan> years or so. :nails:

Impending Galactic Crash Could Rip Open the Black Hole at the Milky Way’s Center

The end of the Milky Way as we know it may come a few billion years ahead of schedule.

According to a new paper published Jan. 4 in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, our home galaxy appears to be on a crash course with one of its nearest satellites, the spiral of stars known as the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC).

This cosmic crash, modeled in lovely and terrifying detail by a team of astrophysicists at Durham University in the U.K., could begin as soon as 2 billion years from now — roughly 2 billion to 3 billion years sooner than the long-anticipated collision between the Milky Way and its nearest cosmic neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.livescience.com/64433-milky-way-large-magellanic-cloud-collision-imminent.html

The Published Research Paper: https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/483/2/2185/5181341

 

[Mythopoeika]

 

[INT21]

'Hey Sid, take a look at this'.

What you got Fred ?

'That superlarge galaxy we found last night. It's spectrum is blue shifted. I'm new to this stuff, is it relevant ?'

'SId , SID',

'Christ, !will someone call a paramedic' ?

INT21.

(ok, a bit nerdy. So bite me)

 

[eburacum]

Thank god- I thought you said millions.