This is a good illustration of the collision paths of our Milky Way galaxy and its neighbor Andromeda that is rushing towards us at the rate of 250,000 miles an hour according to NASA's calculations using data from the Hubble telescope. Both galaxies, now from 2 to 2.5 million light years apart, are elliptical in shape. The smaller Triangulum galaxy, which is also shown in the picture, may join in the smashup as the two larger galaxies merge into one huge elliptical-shaped galaxy. The smashup is expected to begin in approximately 4 billion years, but the complete merger will take another 2 billion years to complete. In the picture our Sun is located on one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way galaxy. Our Sun and solar system will probably survive the smashup and merger since even though they may be clustered together somewhat in galaxies, most stars still remain positioned far apart from one another in space even while their galaxies are colliding. (Credit for picture: NASA; ESA; A.Feild and R. van der Marel. STScl). For more information check nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/milky-way-collide.html. See some great pictures of colliding galaxies too.
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