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Uncle_Boppi t1_iyetvmn wrote

Reply to comment by not420guilty in what exactly happens when 2 galaxies collide? by [deleted]

Realistically I think something like that would be too violent for living beings to survive, but it is fun to think about lmao

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mangalore-x_x t1_iyeuw1f wrote

This confuses the time scale involved. You and me probably would not notice. The solar system would just be put on a trajectory out of the galaxy on a time scale of millions of years and need further millions of years to be flung free.

So no, it is not violent.

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not420guilty t1_iyew34m wrote

You are right of course, assuming very short life span of us humans. Maybe our AI children can do the watching since they may live much longer.

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Uncle_Boppi t1_iyexu5f wrote

I don't know, man. I feel like stars and planets colliding would be pretty insane. That would not be some slow and gentle event. The moment shit starts colliding, at tens of thousands miles per hour, it would be catastrophic.

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mangalore-x_x t1_iyf0xfa wrote

Which is the misconception.

There would be few collisions. Galaxies colliding is not two cars smashing together, for lack of a better image it is on astronomical scales more like two gases mixing.

On a time scale of millions to hundreds of millions of years. Same for stray stars getting ejected.

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