Impact with Andromeda

[adrenalynn]

True - but I don't imagine it'd be any measurable amount more than we have now. Interstellar distances - Interstellar distances = Interstellar distances.<br /><br />Don'tcha love new math? <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>.</p><p><font size="3">bipartisan</font>  (<span style="color:blue" class="pointer"><span class="pron"><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="2">bī-pär'tĭ-zən, -sən</font></span></span>) [Adj.]  Maintaining the ability to blame republications when your stimulus plan proves to be a devastating failure.</p><p><strong><font color="#ff0000"><font color="#ff0000">IMPE</font><font color="#c0c0c0">ACH</font> <font color="#0000ff"><font color="#c0c0c0">O</font>BAMA</font>!</font></strong></p> </div>

 

[2844az]

How could a merger of Andromeda and our galaxy not be fatal to the earth? As it was mentioned: “. I can't even begin to imagine the complexities involved in simulating two galaxies, 800 billion stars, and untold massive quantities of interstellar gas and dust interacting to predict an outcome.†Every star has a gravitational pull. How could you not have something like an accretion? Stars eating up stars. Perhaps like the theory of how the planets were formed. I see our particular 9 planets and the Sun like the gears of a watch. There is a certain amount of gravitational force that keeps them in their relative orbits. I believe if just one planet is pulled 3-5 thousand miles out of its orbit, it will cause a chain reaction of offsetting the other planets. Therefore offsetting the earth’s position. The earth normally holds within a thousand miles of it orbit from the sun (ie. Its apogee and perigee). To offset if 2-3 thousand miles by the gravitational forces from a merger would spell dooms day (IMOP). Gary

 

[MeteorWayne]

Individual stars are so far apart, that except near the galactic cores, while there may be disruption to the star's orbit around it's galaxy center, the gravitational effect on the planetary sistems will be negligible.<br /><br />After all, we have a star only 4 light years away from us, and it hasn't messed up our system. <br /><br />And your other numbers are way off. The difference between aphelion and perihelion (agogee and perigee are for an object orbiting earth) is about 5 million km, or 3.1 million miles.<br /><br />You'll not have much fun here making up bogus numbers as you go along. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[billslugg]

Gary<br /><br />Actually the chance of any two stars merging is infinitesimally small, even considering the added path lengths due to stars deflecting each other. The average distance between stars (outside the core of the galaxy) is several light years. The Earth is not likely to see anything other than an enhanced number of comets coming in from the Oort cloud.<br /><br /><font color="yellow">The earth normally holds within a thousand miles of it orbit from the sun</font><br />Do you mean that the major planets deflect the Earth no more than 1000 miles from its orbit? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p> </p> </div>

 

[2844az]

Well said, Meteor Wayne. I am sorry for the confusion. What I was trying to say is this: As the earth travels in its elliptical orbit its distance from the Sun will vary over a year. This variation in the distance from the Sun causes the amount of solar radiation received by the Earth to annually vary by about 6%. The positions in the Earth’s revolution where it is closest and farthest from the Sun. The perihelion, is when the Earth is closest to the Sun (147.3 million km). The Earth is farthest from the Sun aphelion (152.1 million km). It is here in this distance, I believe if gravitational forces from a merger pull the earth farther or closer to the sun, then we have dooms day. Let me ask you this? If you could move any one of the main planets out of it natural orbit, say, several thousand miles away from another planet. Would it effect the orbit of other planets? Gary. Thanks for the correction. I will try to get my thoughts together better next time.

 

[MeteorWayne]

"The Earth is farthest from the Sun aphelion (152.1 million km). It is here in this distance, I believe if gravitational forces from a merger pull the earth farther or closer to the sun, then we have dooms day. Let me ask you this? If you could move any one of the main planets out of it natural orbit, say, several thousand miles away from another planet. Would it effect the orbit of other planets?"<br /><br />Sure, that would be bad. But by what mechanism could that happen? How do you move one planet and not all the rest? If anything gets that close, there's big trouble.<br />BTW, we'll have been dead for millions of millenia by then <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />Any star that comes close enough to affect any planets or other rubble (<1 LY?) will pull all the other stuff away as well. The outermost parts of the solar system would be most highly affected. Even at 1 LY, I suspect that the major affect would be to cause an increase in Oort cloud comets for the next few million years, but there would be no major effect on the planets. If you are suggesting that another star passes within the planetary part of the solar sytem, well everything gets disrupted. End of story. But again, the odds of a star even coming within 1 AU of us is unbelievable small, so it's discussion of fantasy.<br /><br />And as I've pointed out earlier, there is no guarantee, in fact it's a suggestion, that Andromeda and the MW will even come close enough to merge.<br /><br />Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[adrenalynn]

If we look at other merging galaxies, wouldn't we expect to see an increase in Nova and Supernova if, in fact, we had stars colliding?<br /><br />We can see merging galaxies at nearly all stages of merger. Given the distances, I'd expect statistically, if it were too much of a risk, we'd be seeing a lot of "big booms" that we don't observe - just from a statistical standpoint.<br /><br />No? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>.</p><p><font size="3">bipartisan</font>  (<span style="color:blue" class="pointer"><span class="pron"><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="2">bī-pär'tĭ-zən, -sən</font></span></span>) [Adj.]  Maintaining the ability to blame republications when your stimulus plan proves to be a devastating failure.</p><p><strong><font color="#ff0000"><font color="#ff0000">IMPE</font><font color="#c0c0c0">ACH</font> <font color="#0000ff"><font color="#c0c0c0">O</font>BAMA</font>!</font></strong></p> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

Good point. And instead what we actually observe is starbursts (when the collision is close enough) caused by the compression of gas caused by the gravitational interaction of the total masses of the galaxies.<br />There's a lot of evidence for that, wheras AFAIK, there are no confirmed indications of stellar impacts in any of the interactions/mergers that we can see.<br /><br />Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[symbolite]

Im surprised no one has mentioned asteroids, with the stars of both galaxies passing each other i can definatly see Oort Cloud type objects getting messed up real good and eventually becoming the next Heavy Bombardment. I won't even go into all the rocks that might pass through our solar system at crazy speeds that are from Andromeda... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

I did note that very thing a few posts ago, that the outer regions of any stellar systems would be most affected, if there was any interaction at all. <br />Not so much asteroids, but comets from the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud type structures.<br /><br />But still, the likelyhood of any stars coming close enough for that to happen is verrrry low. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>