A diagram depicting possible Universe futures
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STScI
The Future of the Universe
What will happen to the Universe? Will it last
forever or will it end? That question has been around for a long long
time. We may still be unable to answer it. But we are at least able to
predict certain possiblities. In our current view of the Universe
there are 2 possible futures.
One possiblity is that the Universe will come to an end in the
opposite of a Big Bang called The Big Crunch. In this kind of
Universe there would be enough material to stop the Universe's
expansion. The universe would turn around and collpase again. It might
even blow up again in another Big Bang.
The other possibility is that we live in an Eternal Universe
that will never come to end. The Universe would just continue to
expand forever. It would get very cold and dark. Eventually all stars
would die and there would be no more starlight in the Universe.
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