Why is Andromeda moving towards us if the Universe is expanding?
All things in the Universe are speeding away from us, it’s just that gravity is a much stronger force at local levels. This is why the Solar System holds together, and why Andromeda is moving towards us and in about 4 billion years or so, the Andromeda galaxy is going to slam into the Milky Way.
Why is the Andromeda galaxy moving toward the Milky Way galaxy?
The Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies are moving toward each other due to mutual gravitational attraction. This mutual gravity force is stronger than the force which causes the expansion of the Universe on the relatively short distances between Andromeda and the Milky Way.
Why will Andromeda and the Milky Way collide?
Returning to your question, galaxy collisions happen on relatively small scales in an astronomical sense. The strong gravitational attraction between the Milky Way and Andromeda wins out over the dark energy attempting to drive them apart, and will ultimately cause a collision to occur.
Why is the Milky Way not expanding?
The Milky Way and all the local group galaxies will stay bound together, eventually merging together under their own gravity. Earth will revolve around the Sun at the same orbital distance, Earth itself will remain the same size, and the atoms making up everything on it will not expand.
Is Andromeda coming to the Milky Way?
In roughly 4.5 billion years’ time the Milky Way will smash into the rapidly approaching Andromeda Galaxy, and astronomers are still attempting to predict what it will be like when the two galaxies collide.
Is Andromeda approaching the Milky Way?
The Andromeda Galaxy is approaching the Milky Way at about 110 kilometres per second (68 mi/s) as indicated by blueshift. But then researchers reported on using the Hubble Space Telescope to measure the positions of stars in Andromeda in 2002 and 2010, relative to hundreds of background distant galaxies.
How long will it take the Andromeda Galaxy to reach Earth?
4 billion years
The Andromeda Galaxy is speeding toward us, but it will take 4 billion years to get here. This artist’s concept shows the night sky from Earth in 3.75 billion years: Andromeda is much closer, appears larger, and has begun to distort the plane of the Milky Way with its gravitational pull.
Do galaxies expand with the universe?
However, the galaxies are not moving through space, they are moving in space, because space is also moving. The universe encompasses everything in existence, from the smallest atom to the largest galaxy; since forming some 13.7 billion years ago in the Big Bang, it has been expanding and may be infinite in its scope.