Scientists from Cornell University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and others say the universe will expand to a peak size before contracting.
THE universe may begin shrinking in 7billion years before collapsing entirely in a “Big Crunch,” according to new research.
Scientists from Cornell University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and others say the universe will expand to a peak size before contracting.
“A reverse Big Bang of sorts, which scientists have dubbed the ‘Big Crunch’,” the study explains. Using data from surveys like the Dark Energy Survey, they predict the collapse will occur in about 33.3billion years.
The researchers’ theory hinges on dark energy, “a mysterious force that makes up about 70 per cent of the known universe.”
Recent observations suggest this force “might actually be dynamic,” eventually reversing expansion.
Even if confirmed, scientists say there is no cause for panic, as “20billion years down the line, the Sun will have died and our galaxy will have collided with the neighbouring Andromeda galaxy long before ‘the great end’.”