Artist's conception of Smith's Cloud approaching, then colliding with, our own Milky Way Galaxy in approximately 40 million years. Sequence of images shows the approach and collision. A giant cloud of hydrogen gas is speeding toward a collision with our Milky Way Galaxy, and may set off a spectacular burst of stellar fireworks when it hits in less than 40 million years. The cloud, called Smith's Cloud, after the astronomer who discovered it in 1963, contains enough hydrogen to make a million stars like the Sun. Eleven thousand light-years long and 2,500 light-years wide, it is only 8,000 light-years from our Galaxy's disk. It is careening toward our Galaxy at more than 150 miles per second, aimed to strike the Milky Way's disk at an angle of about 45 degrees. Yellow disk below right of center is our Sun. Release date: January 11, 2008.