Wednesday, August 19, 2015

The Universe is Dying

Well, Thanks to Joe, I once again revisit a subject that was, to me, at least, dead (sorry about the choice of words) and buried.


It seems that, yes indeed according to  Professor Simon Driver, from the International Center for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) in Western Australia.  Studying 200,000 galaxies, astronomers confirmed that the Universe is slowly dying.

Not just energy generated in the visual band but near,mid, far infrared plus ultraviolet, each and every energy band is showing dying. 

But we should be honest here....  astronomers have known for some time now that the Universe's days were numbered.  There really isn't anything new here except maybe a more refined end time and date I suppose. 

An international team of apx. 100 scientists using information garnered from the world's most powerful telescopes - both land and space based - to study the energy emitting from more than 200,000 galaxies,  in a wide slice of the observable universe.

The up to date data has confirmed the cosmos is radiating only half as much energy as it was 2 billion years ago.





It really should be pointed out that the universe is an elder statesman at over 13 billion years old.  Our sun alone is a third generation star.  Vast amounts of energy have to be squeezed into smaller and smaller areas to make star formation possible, hence far fewer stars.

Death is a bit of a misnomer because the universe will  still be there, but its stars and all else that produces light and stellar fire will fizzle out.

It will just grow old forever, slowly converting less and less mass into energy as billions of years pass by until eventually, it will become a cold, dark and desolate place, where all of the lights go out,I paraphrased - astronomer Luke Davies.

Check the CNN online page HERE  
and the NPR HERE 


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