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Daark Nova
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so i heard that a galaxy was headed at us at like 100 times faster than a bullet. so what happens when it gets to us. Earth would be dead by then. mankind with it probably. but what happens to the galaxy?
Andromeda321 said:Now I believe the sun will be gone by the time Andromeda and the Milky Way collide (don't remember how far into the future this is going to happen)
Phobos said:The 2 galaxies will "collide" approx. 6 billion years from now, which is about the same time our sun will be in its red giant phase, possibly engulfing the Earth.
Ravine said:I do believe that six billion is only when it expands to engulf venus's orbit, not earth's. Although the Earth will be destroyed by the close proximity :tongue2: It will fully engulf Earth's orbit in around 7-8 billion years.
If you go to a decent dark-sky site (getting VERY hard to find in some areas, but Maine has a lot of dark spaces), Andromeda will jump out at you. Very easy to see naked-eye, and a stunner in good binoculars. Our dark skies are a precious resource, and they are being lost to development, greed, and fear of the dark. It's very disheartening to hear Andromeda characterized as a dim or difficult naked-eye object, because it is a measure of how badly we are degrading our environment with light pollution and combustion-product pollution (causing haze).kirovman said:In my astronomy class last year, I seem to remember that the Andromeda galaxy is apparently 5 times larger than the moon in the sky (angular size), but it is very dim so not easily observable. So that may give you some kind of scale of it, but it's hard to imagine.
It really depends on your telescope. Andromeda can be beautiful through a "light bucket" like the typical dobsonian. Again, though, you need dark, clear skies to get high-contrast views. If there is a Wal-Mart or some other big-box store moving to your town, a business that is expanding or renovating their parking areas or planning site "improvements" that involve lighting, etc, please attend the public hearings and try to focus some of the debate toward efficient, properly-directed lighting, timers, etc. Dark skies are disappearing.Andromeda321 said:...overall surface density of the Andromeda galaxy. All told the galaxy itself is very bright to the naked eye as turbo-1 said but it's not very impressive at all in a telescope...
A galaxy is a large system of stars, gas, and dust held together by gravity. The Milky Way, which contains our solar system, is a spiral galaxy.
The speed of a galaxy can vary, but typically they travel at speeds ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand kilometers per second.
"Headed at us" refers to the motion of a galaxy toward our own galaxy, the Milky Way.
The scenario describes a galaxy moving at a speed of 100 times faster than a bullet, which is roughly 30,000 kilometers per second.
Yes, it is possible for a galaxy to travel at high speeds. Some galaxies have been observed moving at even faster speeds, up to thousands of kilometers per second.