--- description: But don't worry, the collision isn't expected to happen for about two billion years. title: The Milky Way and the Andromeda Nebula Will Collide image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Milky Way and the Andromeda Nebula Are Going to Collide by [Michelle Arrouas](/author/michelle-arrouas/) ## Michelle Arrouas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 29, 2014 9:48 AM CUT by [Michelle Arrouas](/author/michelle-arrouas/) ## Michelle Arrouas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 29, 2014 9:48 AM CUT In about two billion years, the universe is going to experience an epic light show when two galaxies collide, [the New York _Times_ reports](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/28/science/space/andromeda-and-the-milky-way-a-merger-of-galactic-proportions.html?hpw&rref=science&%5Fr=0 "undefined"). Around that time, the Milky Way and the Andromeda Nebula – which became the center of the Twitterverse this week when it was mistakenly reported that a cosmic-level explosion had taken place in the galaxy – will collide, causing new stars to form. The Hubble Space Telescope’s newest measurements have confirmed that the two galaxies will run into each other head-on before merging into one single galaxy after the collision, the _NYT_ says. Sadly, no one will be around to witness it, as the Earth will have been burned up by the sun by then. \[[_New York Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/28/science/space/andromeda-and-the-milky-way-a-merger-of-galactic-proportions.html?hpw&rref=science&%5Fr=0 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/135327/the-milky-way-and-the-andromeda-nebula-are-going-to-collide/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/135327/the-milky-way-and-the-andromeda-nebula-are-going-to-collide/"},"headline":"The Milky Way and the Andromeda Nebula Are Going to Collide","datePublished":"2014-05-29T09:48:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:06:04.694Z","description":"But don't panic, it's not going to happen for quite a while","url":"https://time.com/135327/the-milky-way-and-the-andromeda-nebula-are-going-to-collide/","keywords":["stars","earth","universe"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michelle Arrouas","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/michelle-arrouas/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/135327/the-milky-way-and-the-andromeda-nebula-are-going-to-collide/","name":"The Milky Way and the Andromeda Nebula Are Going to Collide"}}]}] ```