Two giant galaxies set for collision
Our Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy two giant galaxies in our local patch of the universe are heading for an immense collision with each other in only a few billion years’ time.
So which will dominate in this intergalactic tussle?
Our recent work has turned up an interesting result on measuring the mass of the Andromeda galaxy, which at a distance of only 2 million light years is our cosmic next-door neighbor.
Both Andromeda and the Milky Way appear to have about the same total mass, about 800 billion times that of our sun, suggesting that the result of this intergalactic gravitational battle may actually be a tie.
In a few billion years, Andromeda and the Milky Way will merge. It is essential that we know their masses if we are to understand the details of t...