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Atechiman t1_j1mb19q wrote

Reply to comment by Aarcn in Is the Milky Way... Normal? by cciccitrixx

Yes but not because of Andromeda. The start of the Andromeda/milky way merger is about five billion years away. The sun becomes a red giant in six billion years, but it is getting hotter and larger as it approaches, the last non- random number I saw put water evaporating on earth about 1.75 billion to 3 billion years from now. Needless to say this wouldn't be good for humanity.

Both those numbers are also estimates. Very good estimates, but estimates none the less. So even if we survive water becoming dust there is a chance we will be consumed by the sun before Andromeda merges.

The merger itself while interesting probably won't do much to our system besides shaking up our neighborhood. Unless of course we are one the unfortunates to be ejected. Though all that will do is make the night sky dimmer.

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PaigeOrion t1_j1mmoo0 wrote

Worry about gas clouds in our vicinity colliding and generating x-rays across broad swaths of the sky….

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