Universe Frozen in Time

Radio Nederland ^ | Liesbeth de Bakker

[RightWhale]

this is important because....?

This is important because . . .

The Professor is teaching at Harvard and is being reported in Europe. Give serious thought to sending your children to Princeton.

[gcruse]

"50 to 100 billion years from now the universe will be a dark and lonely place," surmises Avi Loeb.

Since, with the naked eye, we can't see much beyond our galaxy, this scenario is untrue.  The
local group and our galaxy itself are gravitationally bound and are not flying apart.  Except for
heading  into the Great Attractor, which may gobble us up by then anyway.

...distant galaxies will
be travelling away from us faster than the speed of light -
a rare exception to the rule that nothing can go faster than light.

They aren't travelling at the speed of light.  They are sitting there.
What is happening is that space is expanding between us.  And
space expansion is not limited to the speed of light.

I don't think I know more than a professor of astronomy,
so put this down to dumb reportage. :)

[steve-b]

You'd better take a good look while you can, because the Universe is going to disappear!

The FOOLS!! They LAUGHED at my theories!!! They CALLED ME MAD!!!! But when I DESTROY THE UNIVERSE, THEY WON'T BE LAUGHING THEN!!!!

[TopQuark]

Oh, G-d: I've lost so much time already!

[TopQuark]

Oh, G-d: I've lost so much time already!

[RightWhale]

In a few billion years the distant galaxies will be redshifted down into background and will be dimmer as well. All that will remain, even to the most powerful telescopes of that theoretical day will be 1000 or so of the galaxies in our neighborhood now. And the remaining galaxies will be kind of run-down, just a few weak stars here and there. On the plus side, it will be a quieter, more reflective time.

[RightWhale]

THEY WON'T BE LAUGHING THEN!!!!

When it all dies out, laughter will be the sole source of energy.

[gcruse]

Only a thousand or so galaxies? Damn. Are we anal retentive or what? Heh.

"The universe is going to collapse in a billion years!"

"What? Omigod, omigod."

"What are you moaning about. You won't be here in a billion years, anyway?"

"A billion? Whew. Never mind. I thought you said a MILLION!"

[hoosierham]

AWWOOOOOOOOO !

[onedoug]

Hawking Lecture, Caltech

[father_elijah]

When it all dies out, laughter will be the sole source of energy.

Definitely worthy repeating. ;-0

[azhenfud]

"As a matter of fact, if we sent out a signal now, it would not be able to reach some sources that are already outside our reach. So if there are extraterrestrial communities out there, some of them will already be out of contact with us."

He must have thought this one up after flushing. No wonder he's a professor....
Az