A recent study has revealed that the Milky Way, the galaxy which we form part of is actually larger, bulkier and spinning a lot faster than what astronomers previously thought. For decades, the Milky Way was considered to be the smaller sister of our neighbouring galaxy Andromeda, but this scenario has changed. By mapping the Milky Way in a more detailed, three-dimensional way, it was found that the galaxy is in fact 15% larger in breadth. More important, it is denser, with 50% more mass, making the galaxy now look like the fraternal twin of Andromeda, rather than its smaller sibling. The Milky way is also spinning faster at its centre, now the figure adjusted to 568,000mph (compared to the previous calculation of 492,000mph). What this means that the doomed collision between the Milky Way and Andromeda will happen even earlier than predicted. But don't worry, we're looking at about 2-3 Billion Years from now. So, no need to panic. I'm pretty sure that nobody reading this article will be there to live the experience.

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