> Science A new research suggests that the Milky Way may not collide with the neighbouring Andromeda galaxy. Previous studies have estimated that a near-certain collision will take place around 4.5 billion years from now but that probability has reduced significantly. In the new research published in the journal Nature Astronomy, astronomers say that there is now a 50-50 chance of a collision. "Our main finding is that the merger between the Milky Way and Andromeda, which had been predicted to occur in around 4.5 billion years, is actually much less certain. We found only about a 50% chance that this merger will happen during the next 10 billion years," Til Sawala, lead author and University of Helsinki researcher, told Space.com. The scientists used data from the Hubble telescope and European Space Agency's (ESA) Gaia telescope to build simulation showing the Milky Way's journey billions of years into the future. Unlike previous studies, Sawala and team took the effect of the Large Magellanic Cloud (Milky Way's satellite galaxy) into consideration.