A new study suggests that the Milky Way galaxy has a 50% chance of colliding with the Andromeda galaxy in the next 10 billion years. This is a significant departure from previous predictions that a collision was inevitable. The study, which utilized data from the Gaia and Hubble space telescopes, found that the gravitational influence of other galaxies within the Local Group could alter the trajectory of the Milky Way and Andromeda, potentially preventing a collision.