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Alarming study reveals the universe will end much, much sooner than previously estimated (only 4.78 years left)
NY Post ^ | 4/12/26 | Chris Nesi

Posted on 04/12/2026 10:48:55 AM PDT by Libloather

It’s the end of the world as we know it — a lot sooner than we think.

A team of researchers have drastically scaled back the going estimate of how long it will be until the universe ceases to exist.

Previously, scientists believed it would be 10¹¹⁰⁰ years until the very last objects in the cosmos would disappear forever — that’s a 1 followed by 1,100 zeroes, in layman’s terms.

But a new study published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics by a trio of researchers at Radboud University in the Netherlands posits the real figure as closer to 10⁷⁸ years, or a 1 followed by just 78 zeroes, Science Aim writes.

Make no mistake, 10⁷⁸ years is a long, long, long time. But the difference between 10⁷⁸ years and 10¹¹⁰⁰ years is so enormous that it’s unfathomable to the human mind.

At the heart of the researchers’ dramatic revision is Hawking radiation, a theory proposed by physicist Stephen Hawking in 1975 that black holes aren’t completely black but rather very slowly leaking particles.

Hawking explained the process in numerous books and talks over the years, wherein a pair of temporary particles form at the edge of black holes and rather than merging, one escapes while the other is sucked into the cosmic abyss.

The surviving particle is then imbued with energy from the black hole itself.

Hawking theorized that over “extraordinarily long timescales,” black holes lose mass and eventually evaporate entirely, contradicting Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity, which states that black holes can only grow larger.

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Local News; Outdoors; Science; Weather
KEYWORDS: astronomy; climatechange; globalwarming; nexttuesday; ohnoes; physics; science; stringtheory; study; universe

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I've got your leaking particle. Do socialist bartenders ever disagree?
1 posted on 04/12/2026 10:48:55 AM PDT by Libloather
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To: Libloather

Hawking also thought the universe created itself.


2 posted on 04/12/2026 10:50:25 AM PDT by reasonisfaith (What are the personal implications if the Resurrection of Christ is a true event in history?)
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To: Libloather

I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.


3 posted on 04/12/2026 10:50:29 AM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: sauropod

Bkmk


4 posted on 04/12/2026 10:53:03 AM PDT by sauropod
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To: Libloather

Now I’m worried.


5 posted on 04/12/2026 10:57:05 AM PDT by VTenigma (Conspiracy theory is the new "spoiler alert")
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To: Libloather

Good!


6 posted on 04/12/2026 10:57:58 AM PDT by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
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To: Libloather

The Hubble Space Telescope can see to a certain distance out in the Cosmos. The newer James Webb Space Telescope can see further. Many of the Webb most distant discoveries are things that shouldn’t be there, according to the present-day “experts.” Real scientists are rethinking and retooling their theories.

What is beyond the limit of the Webb Space Telescope.

We shall “see.”


7 posted on 04/12/2026 10:59:06 AM PDT by Ronaldus Magnus III (Do, or do not, there is no try. )
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To: reasonisfaith
Hawking also thought the universe created itself.

Something from nothing defies logic.

8 posted on 04/12/2026 10:59:33 AM PDT by cpdiii (cane cutter, deckhand, oilfield roughneck, drilling fluid tech, geologist, pilot, pharmacist, MAGA)
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To: cpdiii

Something from nothing and your chicks for free......


9 posted on 04/12/2026 11:02:30 AM PDT by HerrBlucher
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To: reasonisfaith

Betcha he doesn’t think that now...


10 posted on 04/12/2026 11:08:53 AM PDT by HombreSecreto (The life of a repo man is always intense)
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To: Libloather

No size restrictions and screw the limit.

11 posted on 04/12/2026 11:10:42 AM PDT by Gil4 (And the trees are all kept equal by hatchet, ax and saw)
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To: Libloather

A little over 1000 years left.

Then a new heaven and a new earth.


12 posted on 04/12/2026 11:11:00 AM PDT by Jim W N (MAGA "by restoring the Gospel of the Grace of Christ (Jude 3) and our Free Constitutional Republic!)
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To: Libloather

It’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.


13 posted on 04/12/2026 11:13:02 AM PDT by Baladas
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To: Libloather

I read “4.78 years” and figured Greta Thonberg had turned to hard drugs.


14 posted on 04/12/2026 11:15:22 AM PDT by gloryblaze
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To: Libloather

“very slowly leaking particles”

Yes, a typical old age problem!


15 posted on 04/12/2026 11:16:41 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom ( )
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To: Jim W N

Yes


16 posted on 04/12/2026 11:19:40 AM PDT by HombreSecreto (The life of a repo man is always intense)
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To: Libloather

Women and minorities most affected.


17 posted on 04/12/2026 11:21:58 AM PDT by sphinx
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To: Libloather
estimate of how long it will be until the universe ceases to exist.

WTF?? The universe will always exist, just in different forms.

18 posted on 04/12/2026 11:24:53 AM PDT by pfflier
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To: Libloather

19 posted on 04/12/2026 11:25:24 AM PDT by Frank Drebin (And don't ever let me catch you guys in America!)
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To: Ronaldus Magnus III

“What is beyond the limit of the Webb Space Telescope.”

About 13.5 billion years so far.


20 posted on 04/12/2026 11:30:40 AM PDT by TexasGator (-11..)
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