The Andromeda galaxy will collide with the Milky Way in the next 2 billion years, according to recent measurements by the Hubble Space Telescope.

On Wednesday, the Andromeda galaxy was in the spotlight on social media when astronomers operating NASA's Swift satellite saw what looked like a collision between two remnants of dead stars.

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Violent collisions happening very close to the Milky Way rarely occur, thus, capturing the attention of Netizens. Those who witnessed the collision took to Twitter with the hashtag "GRBm31". Galaxy m31 is the known astronomy name of the Andromeda nebula.

The astronomers diagnosed the collision and by Thursday morning said it was a false alarm.

However, many believe that the recent event is still a good thing. Both the Andromeda and the Milky Way are part of the Local Group, which is a small family of galaxies.

In a New York Times post, science writer Dennis Overbye explained how different the Local Group is compared to other galaxies.

"Whereas the universe is expanding and galaxies are generally getting farther and farther away from one another with time, the galaxies in the Local Group are bound together by family ties in the form of their mutual gravity," wrote Overbye.

He also said there is nothing to worry about should Andromeda collide with the Milky Way. By that time, the Earth would have already entered what he called the solar system's hot zone that is too violent and not a single human life will survive. When that happens, no one will be alive to see the collision of the two galaxies.

In 2012, NASA predicted that the two galaxies will collide in four billion years and would change the makeup of the Milky Way. However, the recent measurements of the Hubble Space Telescope suggest a shorter timescale.

TagsAndromeda Nebula, Andormeda Galaxy, Milky Way, Inter-stellar Collision, NASA, collision, GRBm31