Milky Way's chance of colliding with galaxy billions of years from now? New study puts odds at 50-50

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — It turns out that looming collision between our Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies might not happen after all.

Astronomers reported Monday that the probability of the two spiral galaxies colliding is less than previously thought, with a 50-50 chance within the next 10 billion years. That’s essentially a coin flip, but still better odds than previous estimates and farther out in time.

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“We likely won’t live to see the benefit,” lead author Till Sawala of the University of Helsinki said in an email.

Already more than 4.5 billion years old, the sun is on course to run out of energy and die in another 5 billion years or so, but not before becoming so big it will engulf Mercury, Venus and possibly Earth. Even if it doesn’t swallow Earth, the home planet will be left a burnt ball, its oceans long since boiled away.

https://apnews.com/article/milky-way-andromeda-galaxies-collision-6bedc045554a5570ab9fc5ab67473268

Musk gives the expanding sun as a reason we have to go to Mars.