A new study suggests that our Milky Way galaxy and its neighboring Andromeda galaxy are already interacting, long before their predicted collision billions of years from now.According to research published in Nature Astronomy, the two galaxies’ circumgalactic mediums (CGMs)—vast halos of gas and dust surrounding each galaxy—are likely overlapping, signaling the early stages of this cosmic encounter. This finding challenges the traditional timeline of galactic collisions and offers new insights into how galaxies evolve and interact over time.The Role of the Circumgalactic MediumEvery galaxy, in…