This would be a spectacular event in the far future, but sadly we may never witness it...

 Andromeda's Approach

Hypothetical Projection of the Night Sky in the far future.
Cited from NASA Science

Hello Readers!

At around four billion years in the future, the main galaxies of the Local Group, the Milky Way and Andromeda would collide and likely merge into one new galaxy.

The Andromeda Galaxy was detected on a collision course with the Milky Way due to its blueshifting light; the light containing a blue hue due to its parent object's proximity to the observer. The more blue the light contains, the more closer the body is to the observer as dictated by the electromagnetic spectrum. Scientific data shows the spiral galaxy is approaching our barred-spiral at around 110 km/s, which judging by the vast intergalactic distance is atomically small.

Yet the galaxies are in motion, and are estimated to intersect at around 4 billion years in the future.

Galactic collisions in the cosmic web are a relatively common phenomena. In fact, recent studies show that the Milky Way itself has undergone a collision with a much smaller object, the size of the Large Magellenic Cloud, a satellite galaxy. No signals from deep space hinted at this because the smaller galaxy has been strewn in such a way that its matter now lay congruent with the planar disc of the Milky Way, a place beyond which signals are obstructed, also known colloquially as the Zone of Avoidance.

The Milky Way galaxy is around 100,000 light-years in diameter, a measure of length so unfathomly and mind-boggingly huge that it is beyond human comprehension, and thus becomes impractical. The Andromeda itself is much bigger. At this scale, the stars in either galaxies would be so far apart that the galactic merger may echo cloud mergers.

The dust particles, symbolising the solar system would simply be rearrangened in the new elliptical shaped galaxy that would come to be, prophesised as Milkdromeda, or would it?

There are three outcomes for the solar system in this event.

The safest scenario is it would remain far from the now active galactic centre, similar to today's 26000 light-years distance. However, it can be relocated to the outskirts of Milkdromeda or worse, be flung out entirely. The entire system would essently traverse endless space, and not be a part of any galaxy.

Worse still, it can be sent flying towards the centre, and this scenario becomes extremely hostile because there are now two supermassive black holes, one from either galaxy hurtling towards each other. The solar system would get caught in the crossfire, and be bombarded by cosmic radiation.

The Earth's skies would be lit up with dazzling shows of light as new stars would be born constanly. But would it be worth it?

The helpless conclusion derived is that in an ever expanding universe whose rate of expansion itself is accelerating, Milkdromeda would be left an island of light in the eerie darkness. The merger itself would take around a few million years to occur and by the time everything settles down, every other galactic cluster would have abandoned the newborn, not by choice, but by force. 

This is not just the fate of Milkdromeda, but every major galaxy hub in the present. No information from the outside universe would ever reach us in the distant future. The galaxy drifts, its lights dimming as stars begin to fizzle out. Everything will be at the mercy of entropy, which will decide the eventual lifespan of this dead structure.

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This universe is not Earth. This universe was never ours to begin with; our lifespans much smaller than any major phenomenon to occur, subjected to forces and laws one can never muster and dominate. But that's okay.

In the entire universe only Earth has had the grace of gaining intelligent life. We are special, and judging by why we haven't traced alien civilisations yet, we may be the chosen species after all. Milkdromeda would be a large enough playground for humans to be entertained with.

There is no way we can leave a mark in such a imcomprehensively giant universe. Therefore we must strive for something higher; not power, not control but the true purpose.

Thank you for reading

Aditya VN Kadiyala