The Great Attractor

The Great Attractor is one of the most strangest objects in the known universe. To understand why, let's first get to know our galaxy, and how it fits in with other superclusters.

Laneakea
Laneakea is a supercluster. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is part of the local group. That local group is a part of an even bigger group known as the Virgo supercluster. The Virgo supercluster is part of an even bigger supercluster known as Laneakea. One thing that all these galaxies have in common is that they are all being pulled toward a certain point, 220 million light years away.

What is the Great Attractor?
220 million light years away, there is a disk of gas and dust. It's massive. Scientists couldn't figure out its source of power, until now. With radio telescopes, we now know that the Great Attractor is just another supercluster known as the Norma supercluster. Norma has the mass of 1 quadrillion suns (1000 trillion suns), which probably explains why it's so attractive.

What could happen along the way?
One thing that could happen along the way is colliding with other galaxies. Most likely the first to collide with us would be our neighbor, Andromeda. When the 2 supermassive black holes merge, it would release powerful gravitational waves. But then due to the expansion of the universe, Laneakea would come apart, so chances are slim. But gravity still has invited the Triangulum galaxy to the party too, but then due to the expansion of the universe, it might not happen after all.