There are 2 much smaller irregular galaxies that orbit our galaxy called the Magellanic Clouds. These are abbreviated LMC and SMC (large and small Magellianic Cloud). These will one day gradually collide with The Milky Way but it is a long time until that happens; no need to worry. There is also the Andromeda Galaxy which is on a collision course with us.
In a massive galactic collision, the stars much further apart than the water droplets in a rain cloud; the odds that any two stars would collide would be astronomical. However, the number of stars IS "astronomical", in the trillions for a big galaxy like the Milky Way and Andromeda, which WILL collide in about 4 billion years. So it's very possible that at least two such stars will collide, with catastrophic results; in all likelihood, the two stars would start to merge and promptly go nova, destroying them. But as a general rule, stars don't collide.
No. Or at the very least, we have no indication that any such event is even remotely likely in the foreseeable future. However, we expect the Earth to exist for at least 4 billion years or so, until the Sun goes into its red giant phase. Anything could happen - and in four BILLION years, just about everything is likely to happen! I would note that our Milky Way galaxy is on a collision course with the Andromeda Galaxy, and we sort of expect them to merge in about 3.5 billion years. Since the Andromeda Galaxy probably also has a supermassive black hole at its core - probably similar to the one at the center of the Milky Way - it's at least remotely possible that our solar system could collide with the Andromeda core, and fall in. But that's a long way off, and if anything even remotely resembling humanity still exists then, we will be able to move the Earth out of the way - which we will need to do to avoid the Sun's red giant phase anyway.
It wasn't until telescopes that people realized that the band of light reaching across the sky, called the Milky Way since ancient times, was actually made of an immense number of stars. Astronomers still did not really understand what they were seeing until the 20th century, however.Until the 1920s, astronomers thought that what we now know to be our Milky Way Galaxy to be the entire universe, and that our whole universe was a few thousand light years across. Other "spiral nebulae" had been observed, but they were thought to be new star systems forming nearby. After Hubble (the astronomer, not the telescope named for him) observed Cepheid variable stars in the Great Nebula in Andromeda, he realized that the Andromeda "Nebula" was immensley distant, and ennormous in size, and, by extension, the other "spiral nebulae" were also huge and incomprehensibly distant. He called them "island universes", and realized that we were also in one, and that the 'Milky Way' band of stars across the sky was our galaxy's disk, seen from inside. So, even though people have been calling the band of light across the sky the Milky Way for thousands of years, it wasn't until the 1920's that we understood what it was--our galaxy!We can see only a small part of our galaxy in visible light. Since the 1960s, radio astronomers have mapped out the structure of the entire galaxy, and shown it to be a large spiral galaxy of about 100 billion stars; we are in one of the spiral arms about 8 kiloparsecs (25,000 light years) from the center of our galaxy, more or less halfway from the center to the edge.I think Gallileo came across the milky way in the 1600's. The cloudy band we now call the Milky Way has been known since ancient times (it's referenced in various cultural mythologies, for example). However, it was only in the past few centuries that it was properly identified as a galaxy, specifically our own.== == The Milky Way's true age hasn't been discovered. The only knowledge we have is of a meteorite which dates 4.7 billion years ago. And yes, Galileo discovered the odd colors of the Milky Way in the 1600's. If we could escape our galaxy, scientists believe it would look like M-31(The Great Galaxy of Andromeda)I would hesitate to talk about a "discovery" of something that is in plain sight - that people have been seeing for ... well, for as long as there have been people. Like the Sun, or the Moon, or trees, or animals - or the Milky Way.
Particles in gas move in a straight line until they collide with another particle or the walls of the container. They move at a constant speed until they collide, then change direction. The particles have random motion, moving in all directions.
1. a large spiral galaxy visible to the naked eye, 2 million light years away; the largest galaxy in the cluster the "local group" 2. the constellation of the northern hemisphere containing the Andromeda galaxy
The Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies are expected to collide in about 4-5 billion years, based on current estimations. This collision will result in the formation of a new galaxy often referred to as "Milkomeda."
The Milky Way galaxy will collide with Andromeda, but it will take about a 2 billion years until they collide and finish. Earth will not get blown up, but by then, the sun will probably be out of hydrogen and expand. Then earth will be engulfed and all life will die.
In a massive galactic collision, the stars much further apart than the water droplets in a rain cloud; the odds that any two stars would collide would be astronomical. However, the number of stars IS "astronomical", in the trillions for a big galaxy like the Milky Way and Andromeda, which WILL collide in about 4 billion years. So it's very possible that at least two such stars will collide, with catastrophic results; in all likelihood, the two stars would start to merge and promptly go nova, destroying them. But as a general rule, stars don't collide.
A galaxy is 99.999% empty space; they aren't actually solid. The only time you would see a "spectacular explosion" would be if individual stars within the galaxies were to collide. Which isn't to say that they would pass right through each other; the one thing each galaxy does have is what keeps it together as a galaxy; gravity. When two galaxies collide (which apparently is not particularly uncommon; we have photos of several sets of galaxies that are even now in the middle of their own collisions) each star within the galaxies falls under the gravitational influence of not only the other stars in their own galaxy but also all the gravity of all the stars in the other galaxy. The stars are bent away from their normal paths, each deflecting the other, until they swirl together - or are flung away from the galaxy and into deep space. In fact, many astronomers claim to have identified the traces of at least a few other galaxies within our own; the Milky Way has apparently swallowed some other galaxies.
That the Milky Way is the only existing galaxy populated by millions of sun-like stars. It wasn't until Edwin Hubble's discovery of the Andromeda galaxy in 1922 that everything changed, where we, since his discovery, now know that there are billions of galaxies each containing hundreds upon billions of stars! EDIT: Now I registered! If you want to know more, feel free to contact me!
Since it is not possible to SEE the stars in Andromeda, it would take forever. Of course, if you can wait 3 billion years until Andromeda collides with the Milky Way, it will be a little easier.
The Magellanic clouds are two small galaxies visible in the night sky only from the Southern Hemisphere. Up until 1994 when an even closer one was discovered, they were the closest galaxies to our own galaxy, the Milky Way. The Magellanic clouds are believed to be in orbit around our galaxy.
No. Or at the very least, we have no indication that any such event is even remotely likely in the foreseeable future. However, we expect the Earth to exist for at least 4 billion years or so, until the Sun goes into its red giant phase. Anything could happen - and in four BILLION years, just about everything is likely to happen! I would note that our Milky Way galaxy is on a collision course with the Andromeda Galaxy, and we sort of expect them to merge in about 3.5 billion years. Since the Andromeda Galaxy probably also has a supermassive black hole at its core - probably similar to the one at the center of the Milky Way - it's at least remotely possible that our solar system could collide with the Andromeda core, and fall in. But that's a long way off, and if anything even remotely resembling humanity still exists then, we will be able to move the Earth out of the way - which we will need to do to avoid the Sun's red giant phase anyway.
Andromeda was not cursed; her mother Cassiopeia boasted that Andromeda was more beautiful than the Nereids - of which the wife of Poseidon, Amphitrite, might have been one - in any case, Poseidon sent a sea monster to ravage the lands until Andromeda's father Cepheus consulted the oracle, who announced that no respite would be found until the king sacrificed his daughter, Andromeda, to the monster. Perseus, returning from slaying Medusa, saw her and fell in love and asked her parents to marry her and they agreed and Perseus killed the monster and freed her.
It wasn't until telescopes that people realized that the band of light reaching across the sky, called the Milky Way since ancient times, was actually made of an immense number of stars. Astronomers still did not really understand what they were seeing until the 20th century, however.Until the 1920s, astronomers thought that what we now know to be our Milky Way Galaxy to be the entire universe, and that our whole universe was a few thousand light years across. Other "spiral nebulae" had been observed, but they were thought to be new star systems forming nearby. After Hubble (the astronomer, not the telescope named for him) observed Cepheid variable stars in the Great Nebula in Andromeda, he realized that the Andromeda "Nebula" was immensley distant, and ennormous in size, and, by extension, the other "spiral nebulae" were also huge and incomprehensibly distant. He called them "island universes", and realized that we were also in one, and that the 'Milky Way' band of stars across the sky was our galaxy's disk, seen from inside. So, even though people have been calling the band of light across the sky the Milky Way for thousands of years, it wasn't until the 1920's that we understood what it was--our galaxy!We can see only a small part of our galaxy in visible light. Since the 1960s, radio astronomers have mapped out the structure of the entire galaxy, and shown it to be a large spiral galaxy of about 100 billion stars; we are in one of the spiral arms about 8 kiloparsecs (25,000 light years) from the center of our galaxy, more or less halfway from the center to the edge.I think Gallileo came across the milky way in the 1600's. The cloudy band we now call the Milky Way has been known since ancient times (it's referenced in various cultural mythologies, for example). However, it was only in the past few centuries that it was properly identified as a galaxy, specifically our own.== == The Milky Way's true age hasn't been discovered. The only knowledge we have is of a meteorite which dates 4.7 billion years ago. And yes, Galileo discovered the odd colors of the Milky Way in the 1600's. If we could escape our galaxy, scientists believe it would look like M-31(The Great Galaxy of Andromeda)I would hesitate to talk about a "discovery" of something that is in plain sight - that people have been seeing for ... well, for as long as there have been people. Like the Sun, or the Moon, or trees, or animals - or the Milky Way.
Blown head gasket. That milky look is coolant mixed with the oil. STOP driving this vehicle until you have this repaired or you will ruin this engine.
Until now, the Milky Way was believed to be one galaxy in the 2,000 that make up what's known as the Virgo "supercluster".