In this 2012 visualization, the Andromeda galaxy (left) appears in Earth's skies and begins to distort the Milky Way as the two galaxies merge. This hypothetical scenario was previously expected to ...

For years, astronomers have believed that the fate of the Milky Way was tied to our largest neighboring galaxy, the Andromeda galaxy. However, a new study now says that this future Milky Way merger ...

For years, astronomers have predicted a dramatic fate for our galaxy: a head-on collision with Andromeda, our nearest large galactic neighbor. This merger—expected in about 5 billion years—has become ...

The Andromeda galaxy, left, is about to collide with part of the Milky Way, as seen from Earth, in a hypothetical merger scenario. Credit: NASA illustration "Based on the best available data, the fate ...