Our Galaxy may merge with another

Cosmic Finger Taps Our Galaxy's Shoulder

Quote:

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As if reaching out with a come-hither motion, a giant gas finger emanating from two neighboring galaxies has hooked into the starry disk of the Milky Way and is pulling all three galaxies closer.


This extremity of hydrogen gas is actually the pointy end of the so-called Leading Arm of gas that streams ahead of two irregular galaxies called the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds.


The fate of these nearby galaxies, which are impacted by the Milky Way's gravity, has been somewhat of a mystery. The new finger findings suggest that the Magellanic Clouds will eventually merge with the Milky Way rather than zooming past.

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Or they might just be visiting.

I wonder what the time frame for this is. Probably in the thousands of years, time to start warp engine designs. :)

I suspect millions or billions ! on the plus side, the time to reach the closest galaxy is dropping! :D

Another galaxy is giving us the finger? What'd we ever do? We can't help it if we're attractive :)

Likely the Milky Way will swallow up the LMC and GMC like it's eating the Sagittarius and Leo dwarf galaxies.

Andromeda (M-31) is also plunging towards the Milky way. It should get here in about 4-5 billion years... round about the time that the Sun burns out.

Given that Andromeda is almost twice our galaxy's size, it may eat us. At the very least it will provide some interesting gravitational interactions to any outside observers.