When the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies eventually meet, the process will be a massive gravitational dance rather than a direct, explosive collision. Because galaxies are mostly empty space, individual stars are unlikely to hit one another. Instead, the primary driver of this event is gravity. As the two galaxies approach, their mutual gravitational pull will begin to stretch and distort their spiral shapes, creating long trails of stars known as tidal tails.
During this process, the galaxies will likely orbit one another several times. This repeated interaction can trigger bursts of new star formation as large clouds of gas and dust are compressed by gravity. Over billions of years, these chaotic motions will settle down. The two original spiral galaxies will eventually merge to form a single, much larger elliptical galaxy, sometimes nicknamed Milkomeda.
While the night sky will change dramatically as stars are redistributed, our solar system will likely survive the transition. Gravity will shift the positions of stars, but the vast distances between them mean the chance of a direct stellar collision is extremely low. It will be a slow, transformative era for our cosmic neighborhood.
