Milkomeda

In ~4.5 billion years, Andromeda will collide with the Milky Way. Here's what will actually happen — and why no stars will hit each other.

The Andromeda Galaxy is approaching the Milky Way at ~110 km/s and will collide in approximately 4.5 billion years. The two galaxies will merge over several billion years of passes, ultimately forming a giant elliptical galaxy — sometimes called 'Milkomeda.' Despite the collision of two galaxies each containing hundreds of billions of stars, individual stellar collisions are extremely rare. Earth will likely survive, though in a dramatically different night sky.