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help_me_cant_post OP t1_ixojzom wrote

Reply to comment by Patrick26 in Would it be possible for the Milky Way to absorb so many dwarf galaxies, enlarging it to a degree that is seemingly impossible, somehow dwarfing the likes of the Andromeda? by help_me_cant_post

Who is to say that our galaxy isn't able to grow larger than andromeda? I know they are destined to merge at one point, But the milky way could grow to a size large enough that the Andromeda galaxy would contain more similarities in size to the very dwarf galaxies we swallow now, as apposed to how we see it today.

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the_fungible_man t1_ixoulaq wrote

The amount of mass that would be required to "engorge" the Milky Way to your proposed size simply isn't present in its region of space. So, anyone can say that our galaxy will not be appreciably larger than its current size as it merges with M31 a few billion years from now.

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Storyteller-Hero t1_ixolvzi wrote

Who? IF anyone were to say the Milky Way won't grow larger than Andromeda before collision, then it would be mathematicians who have calculated the distances between galaxies as well as their trajectories and estimated how long before anything collides with the Milky Way.

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