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if the sun, which is huge compared to the earth, were the size of a pea, the nearest star would be ~120 miles away to scale. this is a typical distance between
by voodooranger 6y ago
if the sun, which is huge compared to the earth, were the size of a pea, the nearest star would be ~120 miles away to scale. this is a typical distance between stars and it’s why when andromeda collides with the milky way there is little chance of stars colliding.
- djannzjkzxn 6y agoI’ve heard, I think many years ago, this fact there is not much risk or star collisions when galaxies collide. But I wonder, given more recent knowledge of how common exoplanets are, if there is a more significant risk of disruptions to the planetary systems that surround the stars. These planetary systems are much larger than the stars themselves.
- giantrobot 6y agoStars are still sparse enough in both galaxies that most stars still wont have much effect on most other stars' planetary systems. On the scales of the galaxies a star system isn't much bigger than that system's star. A star affecting another's planetary system would pass so close it and the host star would likely form a gravitational relationship and would be considered a "collision". Space is stupid big and stupid empty.
- ProZsolt 6y agoI really like this demo to show how empty our solar system is: https://joshworth.com/dev/pixelspace/pixelspace_solarsystem.html https://joshworth.com/dev/pixelspace/pixelspace_solarsystem.... Or the RL version in Sweden: http://www.swedensolarsystem.se/en/ http://www.swedensolarsystem.se/en/