Revolutionary Stephen Hawking-Inspired Theory Predicts the Universe’s Unexpectedly Early Demise

Recent research suggests our universe might be fading faster than previously thought. But don’t worry—it’s still set to last an incredible amount of time, like a cosmic clock ticking away for a quinvigintillion years (that’s 10⁷⁸ years).

This new timeline is a significant change from an earlier estimate that suggested stellar remnants could last up to 10^1,100 years. To put that in perspective, that’s 1 followed by 1,100 zeros! The new estimate of 10⁷⁸ years means that the universe could wrap up much sooner than we once believed.

The study, published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, doesn’t guarantee that the universe will stick around that long. It serves as a reminder that everything eventually fades away. “There is still plenty of time to achieve amazing things,” says Heino Falcke, the lead researcher and a professor of astrophysics at Radboud University.

All stars eventually die, but they don’t vanish entirely. Sun-like stars shed their outer layers to leave behind a white dwarf. Massive stars explode in supernova events, becoming neutron stars or black holes. In 1974, Stephen Hawking proposed that black holes evaporate over time through a process now known as Hawking radiation. This research builds on that idea, suggesting that neutron stars and white dwarfs could experience a similar fate due to “gravitational pair production,” which leads to their decay.

A neutron star might evaporate in about 10⁶⁸ years, while white dwarfs could survive until that quinvigintillion mark. Supermassive black holes might endure even longer—possibly up to 10⁹⁶ years. However, long before then, the universe will dim significantly; researchers estimate that in 150 to 200 billion years, most galaxies will no longer be visible.

Falcke notes that by around 17 trillion years, the last of the stars will have died. Meanwhile, our own sun is set to grow and consume Earth in about 5 billion years. That means life as we know it will end far before the universe itself does.

Alex Richings, an astrophysics lecturer at the University of Hull, finds the findings quite intriguing. He says, “We often think of stellar remnants as lasting forever, but this study shows they also have their limits.” This could reshape how we understand stellar evolution and the lifecycle of the cosmos.

In the vast expanse of time, what remains will serve as a reminder of a universe that was once vibrant and full of light, fading slowly into darkness.

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