There is a new substantiated hypothesis that the universe is now expanding and contracting at the same time (here we go: nasha-vselennaia.ru/?p=10056) .
We think that some galaxies are moving away from us and some are approaching. The Andromeda is approaching to us with high speed (almost with the speed of light), but it falls into the black hole, at the center of which is our galaxy, the Milky Way.
Because of the great gravitational force between our galaxy and Andromeda, there is gravitational compression of time around us. That is, the time passes slowly around us, and it seems to us that Andromeda is approaching us slowly.
The closer it comes to us, the more will be the gravitational force and the time will slow down. We would think that the Andromeda is braking, slowing its approach, but it is actually approaching us almost at the speed of light.
We have nothing to be afraid of. According to our time, it needs billions of years to collide with our galaxy. If we really live in four-dimensional space, there is nothing surprising.
The Andromeda Galaxy is moving towards our Milky Way galaxy at a speed of about 110 km/s. This movement is called the "Andromeda-Milky Way collision." Scientists predict that the two galaxies will collide in about 4 billion years, merging into a single galaxy.
Traveling at the speed of light, it would take about 2.5 million years to reach the Andromeda galaxy, which is approximately 2.537 million light-years away from Earth. However, current technology is far from achieving such speeds, making intergalactic travel to Andromeda currently impossible for humans.
It would take over 2.5 million years to travel to the Andromeda Galaxy from Earth at the speed of light, which is the fastest speed possible in the universe. No known technology is capable of traveling that fast, so it is currently impossible to make the journey in minutes.
Well, isn't that just the most lovely question! You see, everything in our Milky Way galaxy spins peacefully like a gentle dance in the meadow. The Milky Way itself also gracefully twirls through space at a speed of about 220 kilometers per second. Just take a moment to appreciate the beauty of it all. Everything is right where it should be.
It doesn't. The Milky Way galaxy is 100,000-120,000 light-years in diameter. The Sun's mass is nowhere near large enough to make the entire galaxy revolve around itself. The Milky Way appears to revolve around us because of our position on Earth. The Earth spins incredibly fast, and is moving much faster than the sun, so therefore the Sun also appears to be rotating around us. However, the Sun orbits the Galactic core, once every (roughly) 226 million years.
299792.458 kilometres per second
The Andromeda Galaxy is moving towards our Milky Way galaxy at a speed of about 110 km/s. This movement is called the "Andromeda-Milky Way collision." Scientists predict that the two galaxies will collide in about 4 billion years, merging into a single galaxy.
We are part of the milky way galaxy, so we are moving with it.
300 km/s Edit: I've seen that estimate, but it's not straightforward. It's not like finding how fast the Earth orbits the Sun, for example. For one thing the largest galaxy, called Andromeda, is moving towards Earth.
Relative to what? From the Milky Way Galaxy it is receding at about 203 km/s
Probably many objects will collide with our Milky Way. One that is fairly well-known is M31 (the Andromeda Galaxy), which seems to be heading directly towards us, and MIGHT collide with our galaxy in 2-3 billion years. However, it is not yet perfectly clear how fast it is moving "sideways", so it may actually miss our galaxy. On the other hand, collisions between galaxies are fairly common events.
Traveling at the speed of light, it would take about 2.5 million years to reach the Andromeda galaxy, which is approximately 2.537 million light-years away from Earth. However, current technology is far from achieving such speeds, making intergalactic travel to Andromeda currently impossible for humans.
It would take over 2.5 million years to travel to the Andromeda Galaxy from Earth at the speed of light, which is the fastest speed possible in the universe. No known technology is capable of traveling that fast, so it is currently impossible to make the journey in minutes.
How do you see a forest when you are in it? What you see are lots of trees. The stars of the Milky Way are like the trees of a forest, scattered very thin. The stars cluster close together at the galactic core, but are arranged in radial arms out where we are. The stars extend some 25,000 light years beyond us to the galactic rim, such that the diameter of our galaxy spans roughly 100,000 light years. A light year is the distance light (which is REALLY fast) travels in one earth year. So the diameter of the galaxy is, therefore, quite large. We cannot see galaxies through the center of our galaxy--their light is blocked by the stars and dust of our galaxy. We can gaze up through the plane of our galaxy, however, at Andromeda--our sister galaxy, and at billions of other galaxies beyond, above and below the Milky Way, and beyond in all directions, stretching out across billions (thousands of millions) of light years.
No human probes, no. The Andromeda Galaxy is simply too far away. It is about 2.5 million light years away, meaning that even at the speed of light it would take 2.5 million years to reach it, and no manmade probe can travel anywhere near that fast. Currently the furthest man-made probe is about 16 light ours from Earth, and it took nearly 35 years to get that far. Though technically we have no way of knowing if there is intelligent life somehwere in the Andromeda Galaxy that might be exploring their own solar system with probes.
That means that M31 (the Andromeda Galaxy) is at a distance of about 2.5 million light-years, and that it takes the light 2.5 million years to get here. Light moves quickly, but not instantaneously.
It takes approximately 230 million years for the solar system to orbit our galaxy at a speed of about 828,000kph (515,000 mph)