[voodooranger]

if the sun, which is huge compared to the earth, were the size of a pea, the nearest star would be ~120 miles away to scale. this is a typical distance between stars and it’s why when andromeda collides with the milky way there is little chance of stars colliding.

[djannzjkzxn]

I’ve heard, I think many years ago, this fact there is not much risk or star collisions when galaxies collide. But I wonder, given more recent knowledge of how common exoplanets are, if there is a more significant risk of disruptions to the planetary systems that surround the stars. These planetary systems are much larger than the stars themselves.

[giantrobot]

Stars are still sparse enough in both galaxies that most stars still wont have much effect on most other stars' planetary systems. On the scales of the galaxies a star system isn't much bigger than that system's star. A star affecting another's planetary system would pass so close it and the host star would likely form a gravitational relationship and would be considered a "collision". Space is stupid big and stupid empty.

[ProZsolt]

I really like this demo to show how empty our solar system is: https://joshworth.com/dev/pixelspace/pixelspace_solarsystem....

Or the RL version in Sweden: http://www.swedensolarsystem.se/en/