There are 400 billion stars in the Milky Way and a trillion stars in Andromeda - so what's the probability that any of those stars will collide when the Milky Way and Andromeda merge over 2 billion years in the future?

With such numbers, you might think the probability is pretty high but there's also a lot more empty space than there are stars...


My main camera tried its best this week on face auto-focus but it didn't do so well. Please forgive its failings. And before you ask, I don't own a whiteboard.


Majewski et al (Sagittarius A stream paper): [ Ссылка ]

Chemistry 101 collisions of particles in a box: [ Ссылка ]/Kinetics/Modeling_Reaction_Kinetics/Collision_Theory/Collision_Frequency

The Binomial Distribution: [ Ссылка ]

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My sister made the frame in the background as a present when I passed my PhD.


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Dr Becky Smethurst is an astrophysicist researching galaxies and supermassive black holes at Christ Church at the University of Oxford.

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