Collision Course

We're all headed for a gigantic collision....in a few billion years.

The view from Earth as the collision begins to happen

It's true. It's pretty much an accepted prediction that about 4 billion years from now (Earth itself formed 4.5 billion years ago) our Milky Way Galaxy is about to collide with one of our nearest neighbors; the Andromeda Galaxy. 

As horrible as it sounds and despite the fact that each galaxy containing billions of stars, the scale is so large that the stars are way too far apart to actually collide with each other. 

Expected views from Earth as the collision takes place..really really slowly (3 billion years)

But that doesn't mean there won't be drastic changes for us on Earth...(if we're actually around).

1) Our Solar system will likely get re-located some where further away from the center and this will likely change what the sky looks like

2) The collision itself will take about 3 billion years to complete

3) As the Andromeda Galaxy approaches closer and closer, about 3.75 billion years from now it will fill the sky much like the first image in the posting

4) Once the collision begins the sky will be filled with bright new star formation

It's bound to be an incredible light show that will alter human behaviour. Except here's the part I didn't tell you, 

Humans are likely not going to be around to catch it. Find our more in the upcoming Part 2 of this post.