The Milky Way is on a collision course with the Andromeda galaxy

Johnnytoxic · 7 Jan 2009 at 18:31

After reading the below, it's hard to picture how far away our nearest galaxy neighbour is. The speed of light is THE fastest thing we know of. You can get to the moon in seconds.

We are 28,000 light years away just from the centre of our galaxy. Thats travelling at the speed of light !!!

Andromeda is 2.5 MILLION light years away. We think of Jesus been born a very long time ago which is nothing compared to this.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sciencea...romeda-will-collide-sooner-than-expected.html

We need warp speed I think.

int · 7 Jan 2009 at 18:42

If you look around on the New Scientist website there are some cool photos of galaxies in the process of colliding

Grimley · 7 Jan 2009 at 18:42

I don't we (the human race) are going to be around by then somehow. Think how long the Dinosaurs lasted.

Sweetloaf · 7 Jan 2009 at 18:46

Johnnytoxic said:
We need warp speed I think.

Depends what you wanna do I guess.

gillywibble · 7 Jan 2009 at 18:46

I find it interesting how speed is calculated when arguably we are not moving at all.

Fascinating stuff.

Mr^B · 7 Jan 2009 at 18:51

We are 28,000 light years away just from the centre of our galaxy. Thats travelling at the speed of light !!!

It's still 28,000 light years if you walk.

AtreuS · 7 Jan 2009 at 19:03

WONT SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN!! :eek:

Chimerical · 7 Jan 2009 at 19:04

AtreuS said:
WON'T SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!

Fixed.

arknor · 7 Jan 2009 at 19:06

Mr^B said:
It's still 28,000 light years if you walk.

its still 28,000 light years away if you stand still

Ross1234 · 7 Jan 2009 at 19:07

arknor said:
its still 28,000 light years away if you stand still

but not if you walk backwards.

platinum87 · 7 Jan 2009 at 19:09

Johnnytoxic said:
After reading the below, it's hard to picture how far away our nearest galaxy neighbour is. The speed of light is THE fastest thing we know of. You can get to the moon in seconds.

We are 28,000 light years away just from the centre of our galaxy. Thats travelling at the speed of light !!!

Andromeda is 2.5 MILLION light years away. We think of Jesus been born a very long time ago which is nothing compared to this.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sciencea...romeda-will-collide-sooner-than-expected.html

We need warp speed I think.

.

semi-pro waster · 7 Jan 2009 at 19:10

Telegraph said:
argues that the collision will happen around the same time our sun is due to burn up the last of its nuclear fuel, within the next seven billion years.

And there was me getting ready to cash in my life insurance policy too....

I think this is a bit more likely than the other predicted catastrophes in 2012 when Nobiru/Mayans at al combine to do us in but it's still not in any sort of timescale that I'm overly worried about.

Chimerical · 7 Jan 2009 at 19:10

platinum87 said:
.

Thats an interesting post.

arknor · 7 Jan 2009 at 19:11

Ross1234 said:
but not if you walk backwards.

you would have to walk backwords for longer than a human lifespan though

Thats an interesting post.

indeed! maybe its a picture of one of the planets, zoom in by 28,000 light years and you can see it properly

Chimerical · 7 Jan 2009 at 19:13

arknor said:
indeed! maybe its a picture of one of the planets, zoom in by 28,000 light years and you can see it properly

Must be one of them new square planets we all keep hearing about :eek:

Chimerical · 7 Jan 2009 at 19:15

semi-pro waster said:
And there was me getting ready to cash in my life insurance policy too....

I think this is a bit more likely than the other predicted catastrophes in 2012 when Nobiru/Mayans at al combine to do us in but it's still not in any sort of timescale that I'm overly worried about.

Well, you should worry about it tbh. Just worry about it endlessly, lose sleep over it and end up in a mental institute.

semi-pro waster · 7 Jan 2009 at 19:18

Chimerical said:
Well, you should worry about it tbh. Just worry about it endlessly, lose sleep over it and end up in a mental institute.

I'll follow your lead on this one, once I hear you're safely locked up I'll begin my worrying.

arknor said:
you would have to walk backwords for longer than a human lifespan though

It's not a problem, I've just make sure my kids carry on the walking backwards in my stead and their kids ad infinitum or until the end of the World, whichever comes first.

Duke · 7 Jan 2009 at 19:19

Johnnytoxic said:
We need warp speed I think.

VTEC should be enough.

Chimerical · 7 Jan 2009 at 19:21

semi-pro waster said:
I'll follow your lead on this one, once I hear you're safely locked up I'll begin my worrying.

It's not a problem, I've just make sure my kids carry on the walking backwards in my stead and their kids ad infinitum or until the end of the World, whichever comes first.

Well, its disgraceful how lax you can be about the Real problems our planet faces.

Two galaxies crashing into eachother would be awesome though.

I hope the human race still inhabits planet earth long enough to 'experience' it.

dunker · 7 Jan 2009 at 19:23

huh? 1,000 light years is 1,000 years travelling at the speed of light yeah? 1,000 light years at walking speed would take billions of years to reach right?

1,000 light years = billions walk years?

yep i've had way too much booze this xmas