In a time far, far away...

[disappoint]

The Andromeda galaxy and the Milky Way galaxy, ever the twain shall meet.

Why do you suppose this is so?

Maybe we are supposed to say hello to Andromedans but not until both are ready.

What do you think?

 

[SMOGZINN]

The phrase is 'Never the twain shall meet'. It is from a Kipling poem, and it means that the two things are so different that they can't be reconciled.

Oh, East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet

EDIT: BTW- Kipling is talking about cultures, Eastern culture and Western Culture, not compass directions.

 

[SecurityTheatre]

The Andromeda galaxy and the Milky Way galaxy, ever the twain shall meet.

Why do you suppose this is so?

Maybe we are supposed to say hello to Andromedans but not until both are ready.

What do you think?

I'm actually not sure your question.

In fact, I think it was a strange attempt at poetry, but awkward poetry at that.


Or is it a riddle?

 

[aigomorla]

i think man will blow up the milky way b4 it collides with another galaxy

 

[SecurityTheatre]

b4 it collides with another galaxy

I think our language will devolve into random grunting of individual letters and numbers before we have the technology to blow up the Milky Way.

 

[Biftheunderstudy]

Let me attempt to parse this....

I think you mean, how do we know the Andromeda galaxy is headed our way and that we are going to collide. And, if we collide, what will happen?

So,
1) We know quite a lot about Andromeda since it is nearby. Among the things we know, are its mass and velocity relative to us (radial). We also know a lot about gravity and the other neighbors in our local group. From this, it is a relatively straight forward gravity problem to solve the dynamics.

2) The exact way in which we will interact with Andromeda cannot really be known, but we have seen many other similar galaxies in the process and can make inferences. In fact, our galaxy right this very moment is devouring a small satellite galaxy and shredding it to pieces. Usually, nothing much happens locally. The stellar density is so low that individual stars don't interact at all. The large scale structure of the galaxy will be significantly deformed though. Take a look at things like the antennae galaxies, the whirlpool galaxy or just merging galaxies in general to get an idea.

 

[SecurityTheatre]

Let me attempt to parse this....

I think you mean, how do we know the Andromeda galaxy is headed our way and that we are going to collide. And, if we collide, what will happen?

So,
1) We know quite a lot about Andromeda since it is nearby. Among the things we know, are its mass and velocity relative to us (radial). We also know a lot about gravity and the other neighbors in our local group. From this, it is a relatively straight forward gravity problem to solve the dynamics.

2) The exact way in which we will interact with Andromeda cannot really be known, but we have seen many other similar galaxies in the process and can make inferences. In fact, our galaxy right this very moment is devouring a small satellite galaxy and shredding it to pieces. Usually, nothing much happens locally. The stellar density is so low that individual stars don't interact at all. The large scale structure of the galaxy will be significantly deformed though. Take a look at things like the antennae galaxies, the whirlpool galaxy or just merging galaxies in general to get an idea.

Keep in mind, the concepts of "shredding" and "colliding" are rather different on a galactic scale than on a planetary scale.

Two planets meet in a colossal impact, resulting in a single cataclysmic explosion.

Galaxies are more like a liquid than a solid (at least on a macro scale) and therefore will "mix" in a diffuse way, with probably a number of pretty astounding stellar collisions, but mostly just a "swirling up" of stars and stellar clusters, due to the great amount of space between stars.

Interesting (although speculative) simulation here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq4Q-UIHpJc

 

[disappoint]

We know the Andromeda galaxy is headed toward our galaxy because of the blueshifted light coming from there.

My question is why is the space between most galaxies expanding at such a rate (increasing btw) that they are redshifted except just that one?

 

[disappoint]

I found the answer so I suppose the rest of this thread can be a discussion on the answer now:

http://www.spaceanswers.com/deep-sp...a-collision-course-with-the-andromeda-galaxy/

The expansion of the Universe, as measurements carried out by astronomer Edwin Hubble in the 1920s show, mean that galaxies are rushing away from us at a rate, recently measured by today’s cosmologists, to be 74 kilometres per second per megaparsec (where one megaparsec equals around 3.26 million light years).

While it is easy to envision all galaxies moving away from each other, the evidence of smash-ups between these gigantic structures litter the Universe. This means that galaxies are both moving away and crashing into one another – this happens much more often than you think.

So often, in fact, that our galactic neighbour, Andromeda is moving towards the Milky Way Galaxy at around 250,000 miles per hour – a speed that would get you to the Moon in about an hour.

Why this is so is all thanks to the gravity of the dark matter surrounding the pair, knitting them together so tightly, that they resist the expansion of the Universe and are instead, drawn together with Andromeda falling towards us. As you may have read in our feature on the Andromeda Galaxy in issue 6 of All About Space, we are unlikely to see the spectacular collision as our Sun evolves and extinguishes life on our planet’s surface.

However, when the inevitable does happen, and the two coalesce, they will create a single elliptical galaxy with the merger triggering a great burst of star formation and the supermassive black holes that sit at the hearts of both galaxies will combine. While stars in both the Milky Way and Andromeda are unlikely to collide due to their great distances, the gravitational disturbance could cause what is left of our Solar System to change its position – tossing it from its current position in the Orion spur and further from the Milky Way’s core.

The galaxy merging does not end there either; Andromeda’s companion, the Triangulum Galaxy – which is also attached by dark matter to the pair – will join the collision, taking another two billion years to merge with “Milkomeda” completely. - See more at: http://www.spaceanswers.com/deep-sp...th-the-andromeda-galaxy/#sthash.kAgZFjtN.dpuf

 

[SMOGZINN]

Not just Andromeda, all the local cluster. Many other clusters are headed towards each other as well, but as a group they are headed away from us. So, what we see is that things that are close together (on galactic scales) generally are moving towards each other, and things far apart are moving away. We don’t really have an answer for why, so Dark matter!

 

[Ken g6]

I think our language will devolve into random grunting of individual letters and numbers before we have the technology to blow up the Milky Way.

你的意思是像中国的语言吗？

As long as two individuals understand each other, it doesn't matter if they use The Queen's English or binary code.

 

[SecurityTheatre]

نعم بالضبط مثل اللغة الصينية.


มันเป็นเรื่องตลก !!!!

 

[SMOGZINN]

你的意思是像中国的语言吗？

As long as two individuals understand each other, it doesn't matter if they use The Queen's English or binary code.

That is true, but when delivering written information how do you make sure that the other person understands you? You use an agreed upon set of rules that creates a system that minimizes ambiguity and maximizes comprehension. Any deviation of those rules can lead to misunderstanding.
We didn’t invent grammar just so we can look down on those that don’t know it.

 

[sm625]

Just because two objects are moving closer in terms of absolute distance does not mean that they will ever collide.

 

[Biftheunderstudy]

@sm625 -- This is true, however we have good constraints on Andromeda's proper motion:

"Constraints on the Proper Motion of the Andromeda Galaxy Based on the Survival of Its Satellite M33" http://iopscience.iop.org/0004-637X/633/2/894