New observations of a pair of colliding spiral galaxies hint at what might be in store for the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy if and when they collide.

The findings, described in July in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, may also help to solve a puzzle plaguing the standard model of cosmology.

The two colliding galaxies, NGC 5713 and NGC 5179, are located 88 million light-years from Earth. They are currently about 300,000 light-years apart, although that distance is shrinking constantly as they careen toward each other.

Around them are a horde of satellite galaxies. In the standard model of cosmology, such satellite galaxies are the leftover building blocks that were drawn together by a massive halo of dark matter and assembled the large galaxies long ag

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