Hubble times Milky Way and Andromeda galaxy pile-up

[mickw]

when precisely our Milky Way Galaxy will crash into its neighbour, Andromeda.
The pair are being pulled together by their mutual gravity and the scientists expect them to begin to merge in about four billion years' time.
A further two billion years on and they will appear as a single entity.
Our Sun's position will be disturbed but the star and its planets are in little danger of being destroyed.

More:   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18285583

& More:  Space.com

[doug]

They are brilliant illustrations of the supposed night sky.....

[MarkS]

Lovely picture.

As it gets closer it will get bigger but will it get any more visible?  The surface brightness will not change so it will stil be a very dull object.

Remember it appears 6x bigger than the full moon in the night sky, so if our eyes were sensitive enough it would already be quite spectacular.

Mark

[mickw]

but will it get any more visible?

Nope, it's the UK, it will always be cloudy