The Ultimate Fate of the Local Group: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Andromeda-Milky Way Collision
Introduction to the Cosmic Collision
For more than a century, astronomers have gazed toward the Andromeda constellation and observed a faint, cigar-shaped smudge of light that represents our closest galactic neighbour, Messier 31 (M31), commonly known as the Andromeda Galaxy. Since September 1912, when astronomer Vesto Slipher first exposed a spectrum of the Andromeda Nebula at the Lowell Observatory and measured a blueshift of approximately 300 kilometres per second, the scientific community has known that this massive spiral galaxy is hurtling toward the Milky Way. Separated by approximately 2.537 million light-years (780 kiloparsecs), these two colossal island universes anchor the Local Group, a collection of roughly 40 to 50 dwarf and satellite galaxies bound together by their mutual gravitational attraction.
