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Basic Information |
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Future of Universe |
This site tells the story of the history of the universe. Click Earlier and Later to follow the story. Note: Many facts have been simplified to make them easier to understand. |
 Figure 1 |
Far, far in the future the expansion of the Universe will be the most important thing The end of the Universe depends on how much dark matter there is between the galaxies, which is very hard to see. If there is not much of it then the Universe will keep expanding forever, to end with a Big Emptiness. If there is a lot of dark matter then the Universe will eventually stop expanding and start to shrink. If that happens then, very far in the future, the Universe will shrink back down to a point no bigger than a full stop. This is sometimes called the Big Crunch. It would be like the Big Bang backwards. We have no way of telling what would happen after that, or even if "after that" has any meaning.
Although it has not been definitely established, there are several lines of evidence which indicate that the Universe will keep expanding forever. One line of evidence is the fact that galaxy clusters have stopped growing, indicating that there is not enough matter in the Universe to make it stop expanding. Also direct measurement of the expansion of the Universe using distant supernovae and other markers indicates the same thing. |
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Figure 1 Credit
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Future of Universe |
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Basic Information |
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