Why is it that galaxies are more likely to collide with other galaxies than stars with other stars?

Question

Does the fact that galaxies are composed of billions and billions of stars have to do with it? I know space is ridiculously void and spread out. So, is it just because galaxies are larger?

Answer 1

You're right.
When galaxies collide, the stars that make up the major portion of the luminous mass of the colliding galaxies will almost never strike each other directly, since their physical size is so tiny compared with the vast spaces between them. Typically, the stars will pass freely between each other, with little obvious evidence in the aftermath that anything has happened.

Answer 2

Galaxies, which run around one hundred,000 lightyears throughout with an conventional of a million ly between them, collide each and every of the time. Stars whether are VERY small while in comparison with the area between them, say regularly a a million/2 million mile diameter (our sunlight is slightly greater than conventional) against a separation between stars averaging 20 trillion miles. So in a galaxy the dimensions of our you may have had 2 or 3 stellar collisions interior the previous 13 billion years, yet in that element the galaxy itself has probable collided with different galaxies 20 or 30 situations.

Answer 3

You're exactly right..! Also there are very few stars drifting outside of galaxies, so the chance of any of them colliding is zero. Even when galaxies collide almost all of their stars miss each other, although they may get near enough for their mutual gravitation to disturb their paths.