This illustration is a before-and-after comparison of the size of our Milky Way galaxy at present, and after it fully completes a merger with the neighboring Andromeda galaxy 10 billion years from now. The merged galaxies will blend together to create an elliptical galaxy of aging stars. Our Sun now orbits in the Milky Way's disk. But after the merger, it likely will be tossed into a looping orbit that will bring it both nearer to the center and farther into the outskirts of the newly formed elliptical galaxy.
