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Galaxy Collision

Photo: Hubble image of two merging galaxies

Collision bound, the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies are hurtling toward each other at 300,000 miles (480,000 kilometers) an hour. It will take several billion years before their violent tango ensues, but for a preview, astrophysicists can look at this Hubble image of an actual sideswipe of galaxies called The Mice. Prognosis for our solar system: either flung safely into space—or blasted by radiation from supernovae at the center of the new galaxy.

Photograph courtesy of Garth Illingworth, UCSC/LO