【探索世界】超大质量黑洞(29/30)
Hints:
January
John Dubinski
the Milky Way
Andromeda
collide
velocity
kick-starts
今天的稍长，耐心听吧~
In January 2000, John Dubinski set out to calculate the final fate of our galaxy, the Milky Way, and that of our nearest neighbor, Andromeda.
The Andromeda galaxy is actually falling towards the Milky Way, which means there probably have some close encounter at some point in the future.
At the moment, Andromeda is moving towards us at 400,000 kilometers per hour and scientists think one day it will hit us. So Dubinski decided to work out what will happen to us in three billion years when the two galaxies finally collide. After a long and complex calculation, the result was a vivid picture of the impending collision. A detailed prediction of how the Milky Way will end.
The clouds of gas hit each other at these huge velocities, hundreds of kilometers per second, and that basically creates great shockwaves which move through the gas and heat it to great temperature.
At the heart of this maelstrom, the boiling gases hurl towards the two converging black holes. This kick-starts a violent dual feeding frenzy as the two monsters spiral towards each other.
