A collision between our Milky Way galaxy and the neighboring Andromeda galaxy, long considered inevitable, may be in question, astronomers say.

The odds of a galactic collision in our distant future are much lower than we thought, according to new simulations.

The team found only a 2 percent probability that the galaxies will collide in the next five billion years. In slightly over half of the simulated scenarios, Andromeda and the Milky Way experience at least one close encounter before they lose enough orbital energy to collide and merge.