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Fade to Black: The Night Sky of the Future [Slideshow]
The night sky on Earth (assuming it survives) will change dramatically as our Milky Way galaxy merges with its neighbors and distant galaxies recede beyond view.
The night sky on Earth (assuming it survives) will change dramatically as our Milky Way galaxy merges with its neighbors and distant galaxies recede beyond view.
The quickening expansion will eventually pull galaxies apart faster than light, causing them to drop out of view. This process eliminates reference points for measuring expansion and dilutes the distinctive products of the big bang to nothingness. In short, it erases all the signs that a big bang ever occurred.
To our distant descendants, the universe will look like a small puddle of stars in an endless, changeless void.
Lawrence M. Krauss is director of the Origins Project and Foundation Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University. A widely-published theoretical physicist and cosmologist, his newest book is The Greatest Story Ever Told...So Far: Why Are We Here? Krauss is also a member of Scientific American's Board of Advisers.
