This is a cool simulation/imagination of the pending collision of the Milky Way with Andromeda. Keep in mind that it’s almost all just gravitational effects with virtually no star-star collisions. The gas in each galaxy, on the other hand may, be highly disrupted.
Originally shared by David Brin
Super cool animation of what will happen in 4 billion years, when the Andromeda Galaxy collides with ours. Plus some highly evocative artists, conceptions of what the sky might look like, from the surface of Earth about that time. Of course, it takes our solar system over 200 million years to orbit the center of the Milky Way, so these scenes would be give or take a hundred million or so!
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Andromeda_and_Milky_Way_collision_sequence.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Andromeda_and_Milky_Way_collision_sequence.jpg
The first astronomy pic that has ever made me laugh. This is what happens when you equip earth with a Russian dash cam.