Another Andromeda-Milky Way "collision" question

[Glenstr]

For this exercise let's forget about our suns eventual demise and assume our solar system is intact during the collision/merging.

What are the chances of our solar system being adversely affected by the collision?

Are the cosmos within the galaxies so vast the chances are infinitesimal, or at least very very very small?

Given that our solar system appears to be in a somewhat dense section of one of the arms, one would guess an actual collision of our solar system with some Andromeda objects would be a lot higher than any solar systems residing in the outer reaches of the arms/galaxy.

But how high is high?, and do we today even have an idea how to calculate the probability with any degree of accuracy?

 

[mathman]

Given that our solar system appears to be in a somewhat dense section of one of the arms, one would guess an actual collision of our solar system with some Andromeda objects would be a lot higher than any solar systems residing in the outer reaches of the arms/galaxy.

Why? The objects in Andromeda wound't distinguish objects in our galaxy based on position in our galaxy.

 

[Glenstr]

Good question, I was just assuming that with our SS residing in a more object dense area of the galaxy, new objects merging in the same vicinity would be more prone to gravitational effects within the arm, therefore more likely to get "tossed around" a bit more than object in the outer reaches of the galaxies.

Any animations I have watched on this show a couple of glancing blows as the galaxies come together and circle each other, followed by a merging of the two densest parts of the galaxies, which seems to include our position within the large Perseus arm. (or is it Sagittarius arm.. )

Then again, with our nearest neighbor in the Perseus arm being 4 LY away, perhaps the distances are just so vast this wouldn't be an issue.

Just curious.

 

[phinds]

Good question, I was just assuming that with our SS residing in a more object dense area of the galaxy, new objects merging in the same vicinity would be more prone to gravitational effects within the arm, therefore more likely to get "tossed around" a bit more than object in the outer reaches of the galaxies.

Any animations I have watched on this show a couple of glancing blows as the galaxies come together and circle each other, followed by a merging of the two densest parts of the galaxies, which seems to include our position within the large Perseus arm.

Then again, with our nearest neighbor in the Perseus arm being 4 LY away, perhaps the distances are just so vast this wouldn't be an issue.

Just FYI, "within the arm" is a useless concept given the time frame involved. Arms are not stable objects in spiral galaxies but rather passing accumulations of different stars in "waves" much like what you see in highway traffic patterns. The SS could well be in a much less dense region at the time of the merger.