For more than a century, scientists have believed that our galaxy and Andromeda – about 2.5 million light years away – will inevitably collide in about 4.5 billion years. But new research shows that this is not as certain as we thought.

Although the two galaxies move to each other at a speed of about 360,000 km/h, scientists used new observations from Hubble and Gaia space telescopes and ran 100,000 simulations, taking into account the gravity of smaller galaxies of the local group, such as the LMC.

The results showed that the chance of the galaxy to clash with Andromeda over the next 10 billion years is 50%, while the chance of a collision of 4-5 billion years is limited to 2%.

The gravitational effect of LMC slightly removes our galaxy from Andromeda, reducing the likelihood of immediate conflict. Accordingly, the gravitational effect of the M33 pulls Andromeda closer.

In the event of a conflict, the two galaxies will merge into a huge elliptical galaxy, losing their characteristics. However, collisions between stars are extremely rare, and the earth may not be affected immediately.

Most likely to be the conflict with LMC over the next 2 billion years, which will not destroy the galaxy, but will affect its center and its oversized black hole.

After all, the end of the sun – predicted in about 5 billion years – is the one that threatens the Earth the most, as it will swell into a red giant that may swallow it. As scientists say: the end of the sun is for sure, the end of the galaxy does not.