Andromeda-Maly Way clash may not happen:

• Astronomers predict a 50-50 chance of the two spiral galaxies colliding within the next 10 billion years.

• This is essentially a coin flip, but still better odds than previous estimates and farther in time.

• The Finnish-led team wrote in a study in Nature Astronomy that proclamations of the impending demise of our galaxy seem greatly exaggerated.

• The latest forecast may be moot for humanity as the sun, already over 4.5 billion years old, is on course to run out of energy and die in another 5 billion years.

• The study used observations by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and the European Space Agency’s Gaia star-surveying spacecraft to simulate possible scenarios.

• The effects of the neighbouring Triangulum galaxy increased the likelihood of a merger between the Milky Way and Andromeda, while the Large Magellanic Cloud decreased those chances.

• Despite lingering uncertainty, the scientists ended up with 50-50 odds of a collision within the next 10 billion years.