The Universe May End Sooner Than We Expected
What will happen at the end of the world? It’s unclear when or how this cataclysmic event will happen but there’s always been the thought that we could prevent it. Maybe we could find another planet to live on after this one has become disposable. Some physicists now believe the Universe will end and everything will just stop existing because it is expanding too quickly.
The idea is called the Big Rip, which is when galaxies expand, eventually tearing matter apart . This is caused by a gravitationally repulsive force called dark energy and could apply to not just galaxies but the entire universe. This mystery matter can be attributed to the way the universe behaves. But the nature of dark energy is still a mystery to science even though it makes up about 70% of all the contents of the universe.
The timeframe of the Big Rip was thought to come in about 20 to 22 billion years from now, but because of new research and mathematical equations, led by Chinese physicists Zhang Xin and Li Miao, have brought it close to 16.7 billion years from now. Interestingly, Xin and Miao also state that the Milky Way, the home of the one and only Earth, will tear apart by cosmic gravity 32.9 million years BEFORE the Big Rip. Two months before the end, the Earth will be ripped away from the Sun and five days later, we’ll lose the moon. The sun will most likely explode 28 minutes before the end and the Earth will follow 12 minutes later.
Now isn’t that a relief to know when it’s all going to end and it will come sooner than later?