HACKER Q&A
📣 O__________O

Escaping the Andromeda–Milky Way Collision


Appears Andromeda–Milky Way collision will happen in 4-5 billion years and to escape it would require traveling millions of light years to reach next the galaxy. Has anyone ever detailed likely issues related to the topic in a single place?

Are there any other well known events besides heat death of the universe that for sure will impact humanity?

  👤 johnhenry Accepted Answer ✓
There's a Wikipedia article on this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andromeda%E2%80%93Milky_Way_co...

but the gist is that Galaxies are mostly empty space; so even though the massive black holes in the center will eventually collide, most of the stars/planets/etc. will remain in unfazed.

Also in about 4-5 billion years, the sun is slated to reach the end of its life, at which point it will grow big and hot enough to destroy all life on earth (and possibly earth itself). This seems like it's more of an issue to be worried about.

See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_of_Earth, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_far_future