Milky Way collision: Will a nearby galaxy collide with us?

Researchers from Durham university say that a galaxy called the Large Magellenic Cloud could collide with our galaxy. But don't worry, it's not going to happen for two billion years'!

This discovery was made when scientist ran a computer program which predicts how objects in space will move around. The Large Magellanic Cloud or LMC is one of many galaxies that circle our home galaxy, the Milky Way.

At the moment the LMC is speeding away from us at around 250 million per second. But it's now predicted that it will slow down and turn back towards Earth in about 2 billion years time.

If this does happen scientists think that the two galaxies joining together could cause a massive space fireworks show. These fireworks are unlikely to affect life on earth but there is a small chance that when the two galaxies collide the Milky Way could be knocked off course and sent hurtling into space.

Dr Marius Cautun, who carried out the research with his team says "The whole of the Milky Way will be shaken and the entire solar system could be ejected into outer space."

There is possible good news though. In the past scientists have been concerned about a possible collision between the Milky Way and another much bigger Galaxy called Andromeda, which could happen in about 4 billion years' time. But if the LMC and our solar system do collide this could actually delay that happening by a couple of billion years.