Wouldn't space carry the galaxy with it or pull it completely apart or something?
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On a local scale, gravity is stronger than the force that's causing the expansion of the universe. That's why although the universe is expanding, the planet isn't, and neither is our galaxy, and nearby galaxies are still attracted to each other.
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The expansion of space is proportional to the distance. The rate is approximately 2.5 x 10^-18/s. Multiply that by the distance to say for example Andromeda (2 x 10^22 m) and you get 5 x 10^4 m/s or 50 km/s. Andromeda is moving toward us much faster than 50 km/s, so the expansion of space hardly matters. So eventually Milky way and Andromeda will collide.
Andromeda is one of our nearest neighbors. Other galaxies that are moving toward us are so far away that the expansion of space is many times faster than the proper motion.
Andromeda is one of our nearest neighbors. Other galaxies that are moving toward us are so far away that the expansion of space is many times faster than the proper motion.
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If I exploded a bag of flour in the microwave (or wherever) you would expect some of the grains to bang into each other, even though they were all moving outwards.
Its simple when you think of it at a basic level.
Its simple when you think of it at a basic level.
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Distant galaxies are moving away from ours which indicates the universe is expanding. Nearby galaxies, however, are gravitationally bound to each other and will eventually merge together.
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Galaxies just kinda drift along independently while space somehow keeps adding space to itself making the universe(in area) larger.