Andromeda–Milky Way collision
Okay, so imagine you have two toys, one is a big ball and the other is a tiny ball. Let's call the big ball the Milky Way and the tiny ball Andromeda. Now, you hold the Milky Way still and move the Andromeda towards it. The two balls are getting closer and closer until they finally touch!
That's kind of what is happening with the Andromeda-Milky Way collision, except instead of balls we have galaxies. A galaxy is a huge group of stars, planets, and other space stuff. Just like there are lots of toys in your room, there are lots of galaxies in the universe.
The Milky Way and Andromeda are two of the biggest and brightest galaxies in our "neighborhood" of the universe. They are both so big that they have their own gravity, which means they pull things towards them.
As Andromeda gets closer and closer to the Milky Way, their gravity starts to pull on each other even more. Eventually, they will be so close that they will merge together to form a new galaxy. Think of it like when you mix two different colors of playdough together and get a new color!
This collision won't happen for a long time though, maybe in a few billion years. For us humans, that's a really, really loooooong time. But still, it's exciting to think about what our galaxy will look like after this big space collision. Who knows what kinds of new stars and planets we'll discover!
That's kind of what is happening with the Andromeda-Milky Way collision, except instead of balls we have galaxies. A galaxy is a huge group of stars, planets, and other space stuff. Just like there are lots of toys in your room, there are lots of galaxies in the universe.
The Milky Way and Andromeda are two of the biggest and brightest galaxies in our "neighborhood" of the universe. They are both so big that they have their own gravity, which means they pull things towards them.
As Andromeda gets closer and closer to the Milky Way, their gravity starts to pull on each other even more. Eventually, they will be so close that they will merge together to form a new galaxy. Think of it like when you mix two different colors of playdough together and get a new color!
This collision won't happen for a long time though, maybe in a few billion years. For us humans, that's a really, really loooooong time. But still, it's exciting to think about what our galaxy will look like after this big space collision. Who knows what kinds of new stars and planets we'll discover!