There is a massive black hole with millions of times more
mass than our sun is plunging towards Earth and will one day annihilate life as
we know it. This particular black hole is coming towards us at 110 kilometers
per second and is at the center of the Great Andromeda Galaxy – the Milky Way’s
closest and much larger neighbor.
At the center of the most known galaxies, there exists a
supermassive black hole in which stars spin around and help keep everything in
formation. But such is the powerful gravitational pull of the Milky Way and
Andromeda that they are being drawn toward each other and will one-day crash.
“There’s a black hole at the center of the Milky Way. And
not just any black hole, it’s a supermassive black hole with more than 4.1 million
times the mass of the Sun. It’s right over there, in the direction of the
Sagittarius constellation. Located just 26,000 light-years away. And as we
speak, it’s in the process of tearing apart entire stars and star systems,
occasionally consuming them, adding to its mass like a voracious shark.”
Due to the size of Andromeda, however, there is only going
to be one winner when it smashes into the Milky Way. But, as Andromeda is 2.5
million light-years away, it will take over four billion years to reach us, so
we are safe for now.
Mr. Cain said: “Panic will happen when the Milky Way
collides with Andromeda in about 4 billion years. “Suddenly, you’ll have two whole clouds of
stars interacting in all kinds of ways, like an unstable blended family. “Stars that would have been safe will careen
past other stars and be deflected down into the maw of either of the two
supermassive black holes on hand and Andromeda’s black hole could be 100
million times the mass of the Sun, so it’s a bigger target for stars with a
death wish.”
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