r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/StemCellPirate • 13h ago

Video Earth’s evolution measured in galactic years.

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u/luisgdh 12h ago

And this center of mass orbits the virgo cluster. Which, in turn, orbits...

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u/MyPigWhistles 12h ago

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think at this point we're not talking about actual "orbits" anymore. Or at least not clean orbits. Afaik, galaxies and clusters are more drifting through the universe, always affected by each other's gravity to different degrees, but not orbiting a clear center of mass. 

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u/saint_of_thieves 12h ago

Yeah, I'm not sure I'd say that the Milky Way and Andromeda are orbiting one another either. At some point, a third galaxy could come close enough to tear either galaxy away like some sort of hand off. We can say that MW and Andromeda are affecting each other's movement.

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u/manofth3match 3h ago

Milky Way and Andromeda are actually on a collision course and will merge in a few billion years.

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u/saint_of_thieves 3h ago

Ah, yeah, forgot about that.