Image: Illustration by Kenn Brown, Mondolithic Studios
In Brief
- Although the grand era of galaxy and star formation is over, the universe remains a vigorous place. In the future stars will gradually shift their appearance as their composition changes. Star and planet systems will fall apart, and celestial objects that now are rare will become common, such as dense balls of helium. In some ways, the universe in the future may be more hospitable to life than it is today.
- Considering the far future of the cosmos is more than inherently interesting. The far distant future provides astrophysicists with an intellectual sandbox, a way for them to grasp the implications of their theories and observations.
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Overview
History of the Universe [Timeline]
Time’s seemingly inexorable march has always provoked interest in, and speculation about, the far future of the cosmos. The usual picture is grim. Five billion years from now the sun will puff itself into a red giant star and swallow the inner solar system before slowly fading to black. But this temporal frame captures only a tiny portion—in fact, an infinitesimal one—of the entire future. As astronomers look ahead, say, “five hundred and seventy-six thousand million years,” as humorist Douglas Adams did in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, they meet a cosmos replete with myriad slow fades to oblivion. By then the accelerating expansion of space will have already carried everything outside our galaxy beyond our view, leaving the night sky ever emptier. Lord Byron captured the prospect of such a celestial wasteland in his 1816 poem “Darkness”: “The bright sun was extinguish’d, and the stars/Did wander darkling in the eternal space.”
But here’s the good news: oncoming darkness captures only half the story. Star formation has indeed long since passed through its most glorious epoch, but the universe has life in it yet. Strange new beasts will enter the astronomers’ zoo. Outlandish phenomena that now occur rarely, if at all, will become routine. Cosmic conditions favorable to life may, if anything, become even more abundant.
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27 Comments
Add CommentWhat possible difference does it make to us what might possibly happen billions of years from now? We know far less about the present than we imagine and even less about the distant future of the cosmos.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"The far distant future provides astrophysicists with an intellectual sandbox, a way for them to grasp the implications of their theories and observations." Children playing with toys...
Some say that the final end of Time will come when even the Quantum world of the Quarks is torn asunder by the expansion of Spacetime and all that is left is an eternal, Cold, Dark, and Silent Stillness, not unlike that described as the Biblical Void in Genesis. Perhaps, but what becomes of Spacetime itself in this scenario? Is it not the case that all that “is” draws its existence from what we call SpaceTime itself? Is it not both the Gameboard and the Game all at once? It speaks to us through the movements of the Dance taking place between Matter and Energy in this Dancehall we call our Universe, but what of the Composer/Choreographer that gave birth to the Music and the Movement of the Dance? Are we to assume it simply turns out the lights, and closes its eyes? This begs the question: where does “it” go? Does the expansion of Spacetime stop at the exact moment that the last vestige of Matter and Energy has reached some Entropy threshold beyond which nothing else happens? If this is so how will every point in the Universe know when to stop expanding at the same instant? The answer to this question holds the answer to every other question that has arose in the minds of every Philosopher, Scientist, or Small Child who has gazed upward and wondered. Is Time itself indeed “Timeless” or does it melt back into Spacetime itself to await a new awakening, to be reborn, and begin the “count” again??
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is amazing that scientists are still stuck on that 14 billion year theory, just like some scientists are stuck on that "humans out of Africa theory", which no longer holds water. Considering the speed of light, which is claimed to be the fastest moving thing in our Universe (which is also incorrect), I think the Universe could be much older than even 14 trillion years. The Universe does not operate on Earth time; things can happen so quickly that it will boggle your mind, or so slowly that you will fall asleep watching it. My 7th grade science teacher said that it takes the Earth one year to go from point 'A' and come back to point 'A', but it takes the Universe billions and billions of Earth years, and maybe even trillions, to go from point 'A' and come back to point 'A'. I think my 7th grade science teacher was correct.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou are assuming that there is a supreme intelligence guiding the happenings in the Universe. I do not think that is the case; if it is, then how did that supreme intelligence get started and where did it come from? I think the Universe is the product of an accident and that accident will not reshape or reform itself back to its original shape and then create the accident again, or start over. It seems that everything in the Universe will eventually die and there will be an ending to the Universe we live in, but I do not think it will be reincarnated.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHere is something else that can trouble you while you sleep - waiting on the Universe to reshape itself and start over: What caused the accident or big bang? A big bang would indicate that there was an accident of some kind, or a core problem that caused the explosion. Either way, it sounds like an accident to me.
Has President Obama been informed of this developing crisis? Perhaps he can form a new branch of government to study it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy apologies Sir if I gave the impression that I believe that a Supreme intelligence created the Universe and controls its Fate. Although I do not discount such could be the case since I see no reason, at this point in time, to take any option off the table. But what I really had in Mind is this. We Live surrounded by and as a part of a Universe of Energy and Matter locked, as it were, in a constant struggle of transformation that they play out on and in the Fabric of what Einstein Termed Spacetime. The two of them, Matter and Energy, are inextricably locked one to the other therein and they constantly toy with each other all the while constrained by Space and its eternal Soul Mate, Time. So in order to completely understand them and the rules governing their existence it is mandatory to be able to fully understand the Fabric of Spacetime, the third and, to my mind most essential, element of the Equation. All we know about Spacetime is what we decipher from our observations made of Matter and Energy.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTake for example the prediction of GR that Massive bodies of Matter will bend Spacetime itself and that Light passing by such bodies will be bent in the immediate vicinity of such Massive Bodies of Matter. Actually Matter Warps Spacetime wherever it exists, but it is only when this Warping becomes observable to us do we notice it. This warping of Spacetime by Matter, combined with the fact that we believe that Photons must travel on, and through, the Fabric of Spacetime and so they too will display a bending along this warped passage reinforces our belief in the existence of Spacetime itself, but that is all it does. It says nothing to us about what Spacetime “IS” only that Matter Warps it and Photons display this Warping. This, to the best of my knowledge, is where our collective Knowledge of Spacetime begins and ends.
I am therefore left to wonder just what becomes of Space and Time when Energy and Matter cease to exist. Do they remain together as remnants of what once was, or do they vanish at the instant that the last vestiges of Matter and Energy cease to exist. Perhaps the “Cloth” they once described settles down as an empty vessel with no purpose, left like an empty jar on a shelf to gather dust. Or maybe they go their separate ways. Time dieing from a broken heart at the thought of its lack of purpose and Space lying empty and alone. The answer to this question is the one that will provide all the answers to explain all that went before. What happens to Space and Time when Matter and Energy are gone from the Game?
Seriously, check the dosage on your meds. Maybe they aren't working after all.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSeriously, check the dosage on your meds. Maybe they aren't working after all.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisjtdwyer is right - It's best to limit our curiosity.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFood and reproduction are all that matter.
But then again,considering the projected future of the universe, then, according to jtdwyers philosophy, even food and reproduction are a waste of time.
I found this talk very interesting: 'A Universe From Nothing' by Lawrence Krauss, AAI 2009
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ImvlS8PLIo
James: "humans out of Africa theory", which no longer holds water - Please elaborate.
"Considering the speed of light, which is claimed to be the fastest moving thing in our Universe (which is also incorrect)..." A 'thing' as you put it, carries a mass. Any mass is limited to sub C speeds. Are you referring to Quantum entanglement?
I know, man, scientists are just plain stupid! If only they would stop being misled by the evidence and just use the good old common sense that God gave them.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisScientists!
Yeah, they woke him up at 2 a.m. to give him the news. He told them to keep all options on the table.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou know what's a real waste of time? Criticizing people for being curious, and trying to figure out why things are the way the are, how they got this way, and how they're going to change in the future.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this14 billion years is time measured relative to earth. Time is relative. That's what theory of relativity says. If you're moving close to the speed of light, the age of the universe as measured from your spaceship would be much less than 14 billion years in earth time.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYour 7th grade teacher is wrong because the statement "it takes the universe billions of years to move from point A to point B" is meaningless. Different parts of the universe such as earth and a spaceship will have different measurements of time.
"Does the expansion of Spacetime stop at the exact moment that the last vestige of Matter and Energy has reached some Entropy threshold beyond which nothing else happens?"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCurrent cosmological theory says the expansion of spacetime is accelerating. So it will probably not stop since it is due to dark energy rather than increase in entrophy of ordinary matter and energy. This is speculative since we know very little about dark energy.
One theory is the universe will end by "entrophy death." Star formation and life in general will no longer be possible as entrophy increases indefinitely. This is an irreversible process based on the 2nd law of thermodynamics. But some physicists think quantum mechanics may allow entrophy reversal.
Virtual particles, the king that get created out of space-time and one can be separated by a blackhole and the other emitted as hawking radiation...does tend to argue that matter is created randomly from space-time.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe problem is are these particle created only at black holes or are they created else where.
Answering this question would no doubt answer your whole debate.
Sorry for a few spelling error's.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAlso it might help to know what thse virtual particles are created from.
Thanks, but my fundamental point is that unless we can manage our population within the resources consistently available on Earth, humanity may not survive the end of this century. IMO, speculating beyond that is strictly science fiction, no matter what theories are used as the basis for speculation and extrapolation.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's only recently been concluded that universal expansion appears to have begun to accelerate around 5 billion years ago, with no explanation established for what physical condition might be causing that effect. Presuming now that whatever causes that acceleration, it will continue unabated forever requires a rather large leap of faith, doesn't it?
Thanks for the link. I watched it and found it interesting, if you overlook his seeming burning desire to debunk Religion and the lack of polish with respect to the use of his “pointer” directed at diagrams “off screen” which the viewer sometimes couldn’t see during his explanations. But overall I found it interesting. One part I found particularly interesting was the animation depicting what is believed to be taking place at the Quantum level of “empty Space”. Sort of reminded me of “Browning Movement”. It got me wondering about the Pressure that could possibly build up due to such action. If this were true I could see where an unconfined boundary, be it at the Quantum or Cosmic level would react in a Positive expansive fashion to such pressure. Could Dark Energy be hiding at the Quantum Level of Empty Space as Energy emanating outward from the constant creation and annihilation of Virtual Particles? How would one test such a Theory? I suppose you could go to “empty space” and put some in a “bottle”, of sorts, and measure the increase in pressure over Time. “Control” would be one big issue. The biggest problem, as I see it, would be to find a “bottle” to separate and contain “empty space” and keep it isolated completely “from the surrounding empty space”. I’ll have to work on that one for a while. It will give me something to think about while walking the dogs.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNice to see you are still with us. How’s your control of that arm holding up by the way? I suppose after all these years you have mastered it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI apologize for my bringing up and other “Threshold Theory”. I do seem to be fixated on them at times don’t I. What I always try to keep in mind is just because things seem to be as they currently are, does not imply, with any great degree of accuracy, that they will continue to do what we predict they will do. This would imply that we have a much greater understanding of how things work than I believe we actually do have. Look what happened recently to our Applecart when it struck the Dark Energy, Dark Matter and Acceleration of Expanding space, bumps in the road.
Will and old age Universe react the way a Younger one does? My guess, from personal experience, would be no. Will the strength of the Dark Energy Force continue at present levels? Will the Dark Matter to Normal Matter to Dark Energy Ratios hold forever, whatever forever means? Things just don’t seem to me to be static enough to say, “This is what will happen in the end”. I haven’t even brought up the concept of the possibility of the existence of a Multiverse and the implications that this might have on the future of our Universe.
Predicting the ultimate fate of the universe is speculative given the little knowledge we have on dark matter and dark energy. As for Multiverse, until physicists devise a way to make it testable and observable, I consider it in the realm of mathematics and metaphysics.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBTW that classic dark comedy about nuclear holocaust was a favorite of mine. Dr. Strangelove was inspired by the real-life John von Neumann who helped develop the atomic bomb, selected Hiroshima and Nagasaki for bombing and formulated the Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) strategy of the US during the cold war.
"unless we can manage our population within the resources consistently available on Earth, humanity may not survive the end of this century"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA very pessimistic view. IMO it is not population per se but poverty and climate change that may threaten a big part of the population. But unless a giant asteriod hit earth, human extinction this century is far-fetched. At worst, a lot of people will die until a sustainable population level is reached.
I suspect that climate change primarily threatens our established methods of resource production. A 'New Plague' could now be very quickly spread to many large areas of great population density, potentially killing many millions if not billions before it could be isolated. Simply burying or burning up to billions of human remains (not to mention any animals) might prove an insurmountable task on its own, producing new disease conditions.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSome think that earlier flu infestations arrived with space borne debris, so a meteorite might not even have to so much as incinerate in the Earth's atmosphere, but float in on dist particles... Yes, these far-fetched possibilities should all be dismissed out-of hand, even though current developments are producing destabilizing conditions that may contribute to their realization.
The grand era of galaxy and star formation is not over, and is never likely to be in our what now observationally seems a vigorous, steady state universe, as also seen in smaller-scale , closed systems in nature.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"But [Sir Fred] Hoyle could, in essence, have been right: his only error was not to think on a grand enough scale. Our observable universe could be an 'oasis' in an ensemble of other universes. Although we cannot observe them (and they may be for ever inaccessible) other universes are a natural expectation from current cosmology. Moreover, many features of our universe that seem baffling fall into place once we recognise this."
"To appear so bright at such great distances, quasars would have to outshine entire galaxies even though they are energized by something smaller than our solar system. They undergo outbursts, which are like turning on 10,000 galaxies like our own within a single day. How this happens is still poorly understood.”
[Sir] Martin Rees [Astronomer Royal], Before the Beginning Our Universe and Others, Simon & Schuster, UK 1997; p 27 & 34.
Please see also:http://www.sittampalam.net/TheCosmos.htm and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDBw-0bqzB4&feature=related
Such problematic observations for the 'standard model' have now become common place. Many a great scientist, typically, Halton C. Arp, has lost his (her) illustrious career in defending his findings that were at odds with the standard model - and requiring one that is compatible with increasing observations, such as his cutting-edge ones. Please glimpse the partial history of this great sky watcher, dubbed "The Galileo of modern times," in: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yTfRy0LTD0&feature=share
Let me close here with the words of none other than the guru himself of modern cosmology, Prof. James Peebles of Princeton. In the preface of his famous textbook, Principles of Physical Cosmology (Princeton University Press, 1993; pp xii and xvii), he doesn't mince words:
"I have been struck by the low level of interaction between the observational theoretical branches of the effort. This does follow an old and honorable tradition in cosmology, but I am betting the approach is inefficient and will not last."
"The big bang cosmology is six decades old, and I am startled to realize I have been studying this world model for half that time; my first reaction to cosmology was one of surprise that grown men could care about such a schematic theory."
Well put, Prof. Peebles!
Thank you all (including Scientific America), for your time (and space) here. Cheers!
Not exactly true. It would be true if, the entire solar system were not filled with enought resorces to last to enfinity and beyound.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thischarwiz2005@yahoo.com
Sault- Do you personally know JamesDavis? I find myself worrying over his health and now feel a little guilty over a tinfoil comment I aimed at him on another article. Please check in on him.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt takes reaction to turn stone to gas, then it takes reaction to turn gas to water and again reaction to turn water to gas, reaction then turns gas back into rock. (comet, astroid, earth and yes also the sun as fire is at the nucleus of all these.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhen some one say's your a ball of fire, well you really are!
As all cells have a nucleus, we are unable to get to the center of our planet but we can study a water cell. To do this first understand that the nucleus of any cell is made up of orbiting nuclei so small as to not interact with matter as we know it.
You will find at the nucleus what will be to you as air pockets or bubbles and if studing the universe instead of this ice cube you would call these black holes.
Now your really going to want to call these black holes oxygen and hydrogen but when you know the secret way of causing a reaction that has these many particals running into each other then you to can discover the fire in your ice cube.
To reason with anything one must first know the true reason.
I N F O C E L L
The information cell emitting from matter, antimatter, forces or what is called dark matter (energy) is in fact a cell. This cell is of evolution and will forever continue to divide and evolve.
Forces of equal evolution act upon forces of equal evolution. In a packed state this dividing info cell materializes of its information, subject to environment (evolution).
A dividing info cell is a reaction and a reaction will be used some time, some where, some how by something.
The uncomprehending many are continually being dispersed out into the universe and beyond. Individually an info cell may consciously be computed (dream); unconsciously the brain continually computes info cells.
Is it a recording info cell of me, brought back to the brain and processed? Is it an info cell of something else being processed by my brain? Is it both?
Isn't it nice to know that there will always be a part of you way out there!