mcgrew writes:
"The AP reports (via Yahoo) that the Andromeda Galaxy is a cannibal, and is headed our way. Astronomers have found evidence of galaxies it has consumed.Our nearest major galactic neighbor is a cosmic cannibal. And it's heading this way eventually. Astronomers have long suspected Andromeda of being a space predator, consuming dwarf galaxies that wander too close. Now, cosmic detectives are doing a massive search of the neighborhood and have found proof of Andromeda's sordid past: They've spotted leftovers in Andromeda's wake.
Astronomers have known for decades that galaxies consume each other, sometimes violently, sometimes just creating new mega-galaxies. But this study is different because "of the scale of the cannibalism and we've found evidence directly in front of our eyes," said co-author Mike Irwin, an astrophysicist at the University of Cambridge in England.
The article says that the Milky Way, Andromeda, and Triangulum Galaxies are due for a massive cosmic pileup about three billion years from now."