Astrophysicist Maps Earth’s End in 3 Billion Years and Universe’s Darkness in 100 Trillion
Updated
Updated · AOL · Sep 8
Astrophysicist Maps Earth’s End in 3 Billion Years and Universe’s Darkness in 100 Trillion
1 articles · Updated · AOL · Sep 8
Summary
Geraint Lewis told New Scientist Live that Earth could be scorched within about 3 billion years as the Sun expands during helium burning, eventually engulfing Mercury, Venus and Earth.
Around the same era, Andromeda is expected to collide with the Milky Way after racing toward it at roughly 5 million kilometers a year, potentially flinging the solar system into intergalactic space.
Lewis said dark energy will keep accelerating cosmic expansion, eventually pushing distant galaxies beyond view and leaving any surviving life with fewer escape routes.
By about 10 trillion years, star formation should cease as gas runs out, and by roughly 100 trillion years the last star will die, leaving a dark universe of fading remnants and black holes.
With dark energy accelerating the cosmos toward absolute darkness, could unknown cosmic forces eventually rewrite the universe's ultimate expiration date?
If new physics suggests Earth might escape the expanding Sun's wrath, what other apocalyptic cosmic predictions could be entirely wrong?
Why might the long-predicted, spectacular collision between the Milky Way and Andromeda actually be nothing more than a cosmic coin toss?