by Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP) – It turns out that the emerging collision between our Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxies may not occur.
Astronomers reported on Monday that the likelihood of the two collided spiral galaxies is less than previously assumed, with a chance of 50: 50 within the next 10 billion years. This is essentially a coin flip, but still better chances of winning than earlier estimates and continues in time.
“It looks like proclamations of the upcoming decline of our galaxy seem to be very exaggerated,” wrote the Finnish team in a study that appears in Nature Astronomy.
While good news for the Milky Way Galaxy, the latest forecast for humanity can be controversial.
“We will probably not live to see the advantage,” said the leading author to Sawala at the University of Helsinki in an e -mail.
The sun is older than 4.5 billion years and is on course to go out the energy and die in another 5 billion years or something, but not before it becomes so big that it is devoured mercury, Venus and possibly the earth. Even if it does not swallow it, the home planet remains a burned ball, its oceans have long been cooked away.
The international team of Sawala was based on the recent observations of the Hubble-WeltraumTelescope of NASA and the GAIA Star-over-covering spacecraft of the European Space Agency to simulate the possible scenarios that are exposed to the Milky Way and the neighbors Andromeda. Both already collided with other galaxies in their old past and, according to many, seemed to be intended for a frontal accident.
Past theories set a collision between the two – which leads to a new elliptical galaxy called Milkomeda – as likely, if not inevitable. Some predictions had this within 5 billion years, if not earlier.
For this new study, the scientists were based on updated galaxy measurements to take into account the gravitational suit of the movement of the Milky Way through the universe. They found that the effects of the neighboring triangulum galaxy increased the likelihood of a merger between the Milky Way and Andromeda, while the large Magellan cloud reduced these opportunities.
Despite the ongoing uncertainty about the position, movement and mass of all of these galaxies, the scientists had 50-50 chances of winning for a collision within the next 10 billion years.
“The fate of our Milky Way is a topic of far interest – not only for astronomers,” said Raja Guhahakurta from the University of California, Santa Cruz, which was not involved in the study.
A complete collision, he noted, would transform our domestic galaxy from a disc of stars that were considered a milky bond of diffuse light over the sky into a milky blob. A harmless fly of the two galaxies could leave this outstanding hard drive largely undisturbed and thus protect the name of our galaxy.
According to the researchers, more work is required, according to the researchers, before the fate of the milkstay can be predicted with accuracy. Further insights should help scientists to better understand what happens to the cosmos even deeper under galaxies.
While the fate of our galaxy remains very insecure, the future of the sun is “quite sealed” according to Sawala. “Of course there is also a very important chance that humanity will still be a lot before using astrophysical help.”
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