Our World is Changing

Do you ever look up at the night sky and just let your mind wander through time and space? We are merely a piece of the Milky Way galaxy, but it’s about to get a lot more crowded up in here because our world is changing.

According to EarthSky, the “Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies are merging.” There are big things coming this way from the galaxy closest to ours. The Andromeda galaxy is hurling towards us around 70 miles per second, so that puts the “great conjunction” happening in about five billion years.

So, this is what it’s like when worlds collide?

Our galaxy holds 300 billion stars, but the Andromeda galaxy is showered in about a trillion. That’s lit.

Don’t panic. While this merger is technically already underway, the universe knows what it’s doing. It’s going to take approximately four billion years from now to emerge. Light moves fast, but not that fast in the grand scheme of things.

I wonder if the new mash-up will get a new name. “Andromeda Way” sounds dumb and “Milky Andromeda” doesn’t cut it either. I’m sure science will come up with something clever by then. I’m just disappointed I won’t be around to see it.