Astronomers have long thought the Milky Way was destined to merge with the nearby Andromeda galaxy. The aftermath of this predicted clash has been dubbed “Milkomeda,” and researchers predicted it would happen in four or five billion years.

Astronomers have long thought that the Milky Way is headed for an inevitable crash with its neighbor, Andromeda. But a new study complicates the story.

While previous research forecast it to occur roughly 4-4.5 billion years from now, a new study that uses recent observational data and adds fr