Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

A Snapshot of the Universe 3 Trillion Years From Now

Posted by Zonk on from the really-gives-you-a-sense-of-perspective dept.

ultracool wrote with a link to a Science Daily article that requires that you think long term. Really long term. Case Western Reserve University physicists are theorizing that trillions of years from now the universe will become 'static'. Essentially, the information that we use to gauge our Galaxy's position in the universe will have moved beyond the 'visible horizon. "What remains will be 'an island universe' made from the Milky Way and its nearby galactic Local Group neighbors in an overwhelmingly dark void ... The researchers followed up that discussion with one tracking early elements like helium and deuterium produced in the Big Bang. They predict systems that allow us to detect primordial deuterium will be dispersed throughout the universe to become undetectable, while helium in concentrations of approximately 25 percent at the Big Bang will become indiscernible as stars will produce far more helium in the course of their lives to cloud the origins of the early universe."

5 of 197 comments (clear)

  1. Re:We Are Gods by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Seriously.. can't we just leave the Big Answers to the Religions?

    Because no one ever prayed up a better microchip. Pointless meditations on the true nature of atoms and light however.... Well, not so empty a pursuit as religion in retrospect. Your brand of incredulity is the wellspring of poverty.

  2. Re:uhh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't know. It might be that the Hubble constant and short term climate processes have nothing to do with each other and that trying to make some inference between them is just asinine.

  3. Re:We Are Gods by Ant+P. · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Seriously.. can't we just leave the Big Answers to the Religions?
    Because all religions that wield power abuse it.

  4. Re:We Are Gods by TheUglyAmerican · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Religions that have power are no longer religions - they are political ideologies. And politics are inherently corrupt and corrupting. Are atheist ideologies with power any less corrupt? Secular ideologies?

    Religion is not the problem though other ideologies would like for you to believe it is as they attempt to increase their own power. Politics and the "will to power" are the human problem whether at the level of individuals or nations.

    --
    "Written on the pages is the answer to the never ending story..."
  5. Re:We Are Gods by Lachlan+Hunt · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Not content with the fact we will die in less than ten billionths of the time interval discussed in this story, some of us still obsess with thinking we know the answers to the universe.

    No-one knows for certain the answers to the universe. Like most things in science, it's a theory. There's obviously some evidence to support it now, but it's always possible that new evidence will improve our understanding of the issue. It doesn't matter that we will all die long before this ever occurs, it helps to satisfy our curiosity.

    How will this affect your behaviour today? Will you re-think going to that club? Will you pick up an extra piece of litter? Will you go and buy up all the compressed helium you can find?

    It's not about that at all. It's about learning and improving our understanding of the universe, not providing immediate benefits to our everyday lives.

    Seriously.. can't we just leave the Big Answers to the Religions?

    No, I'd rather get answers from people who actually study and look for the right answers, instead of leaving it up to blind faith.
    --
    By reading this signature, you hereby agree with the content of the above comment.