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PoppersOfCorn t1_j1h8993 wrote

Just imagine how long the process takes. While everything is moving fast, there is still a gravity well, and they wont just collide head on like a car crash

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ostentragious t1_j1h8w30 wrote

My understanding is that it would be more like a gravitational interaction that would eventually lead to a merger. The problem being all kinds of enormous gravitational wells and interactions and any amount of angular momentum is going to make a head on collision very unlikely. But it makes me wonder if it's come up in any of the models or simulations of galaxy mergers? I wouldn't think it's completely impossible just unlikely.

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charmingpea t1_j1h90ii wrote

Incredibly unlikely given that everything started at one point and is spreading apart.

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d4m1ty t1_j1h99lo wrote

If you consider the closest star to us is over 4 light years away. The sun and that star are single grains of sand on a football field flying at each other. Chances they are going to hit is very, very small. You can fit every single planet in our solar system in-between Earth and our moon. Space is huge.

The chances 2 stars will ever collide is miniscule. What is will happen much more readily is stars passing each other and getting redirected by their gravity wells and flung off.

If they were to collide, there are so many factors to consider there isn't a one answer fits all. A giant red and a white dwarf are going to react much differently than 2 heavy neutron stars. It probably goes from one absorbing the other to forming a black holes or super novas or one stripping the other or fragmenting into masses which form new stars.

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Washburne221 t1_j1h9pog wrote

Even if two galaxies collide, it is likely that not a single collision of stars will occur. Matter in space is so incredibly sparse that a ship could safely set a random course through the galaxy and return multiple times without hitting any large or dangerous objects.

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Devil-sAdvocate t1_j1h9q0x wrote

For those who say it's unlikely, that's not the question. The question, (even it's well beyond a quintillionbillion to one chance), is IF.

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agate_ t1_j1ha2p6 wrote

Replying to d4m1ty (#1,036,400)

> The sun and that star are single grains of sand on a football field flying at each other.

This is a great way of explaining it but you’re off by a couple of orders of magnitude. It’s more like two sand grains in a large city.

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tlatch89 t1_j1hae11 wrote

They would probably dance together similar to how the colliding galaxies dance together before becoming one.

A head on collision would be sweet lol but I don’t think it works that way. Just like slingshot a star into another star and grab the popcorn 🍿

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Now-it-is-1984 t1_j1hcpgj wrote

Replying to charmingpea (#1,036,386)

I don’t believe that’s correct. There are galaxies that have collided. This makes me think there was more than one bang. It’s been hypothesized that the Milky Way will collide with Andromeda in 4.5 billion years.

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ecdaniel22 t1_j1hdwk4 wrote

This would only have a chance of happening if the galaxies were colliding. This is something that can happen in that situation however stars do collid with each other even in their own galaxy. This does happen but it's rare but because of gravitational forces and momentum it's not just 2 stars passing that smack into each other. Here is an article to answer most any questions you might have. That being said passing galaxies won't have stars collide with each other because of generally they have dark matter halos.

https://astronomy.com/magazine/ask-astro/2020/05/what-would-happen-if-two-stars-collided

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ecdaniel22 t1_j1heps0 wrote

Replying to Now-it-is-1984 (#1,036,651)

It's not a hypothesis our galaxy and Andromeda are on a collision corse. They are flying towards each other at break neck speed relatively speaking. However that being said our two galaxies are absolutely insignificant in size compared to the universe. The collision of 2 galaxies would be nothing in comparison to the big bang. Think of it like this it would be less noticeable than 2 subatomic particles colliding in a massive galaxy cluster. Or as noticeable as a human burp in our local group of galaxies.

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space-ModTeam t1_j1hf0l6 wrote

Hello u/Kitkatphoto, your submission "What happens when galaxies are passing by each other, and 2 stars smack into one another?" has been removed from r/space because:

  • Such questions should be asked in the "All space questions" thread stickied at the top of the sub.

Please read the rules in the sidebar and check r/space for duplicate submissions before posting. If you have any questions about this removal please message the r/space moderators. Thank you.

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P3t3rPanC0mpl3x t1_j1jvybp wrote

I was taught that it was highly impossible. The real problem is gas hitting and forming new stars where you don't want them.
If it 'did' happen, it would be an event where we could detect the gravity waves from the other side of the universe. In saying that, there is evidence of Thorne-Zytkow objects: stars sitting inside of stars. That may be your answer.

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