Will the Milky Way and Andromeda crash? Now scientists arent so sure.

Astronomers have believed for decades that the Milky Way is on a collision course with our nearest big neighbor, Andromeda. They seemed all but certain the two galaxies were destined to smash in about 4 to 5 billion years, combining into one colossal galaxy in space. 

In that scenario, the merger would trigger a riot of star births and deaths and maybe even thrust the sun into a different orbit. We were told all this was inevitable. 

But new data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the Gaia spacecraft...