Universe ‘getting darker as star formation slows’ – may lead to ‘beings that doesn’t need starlight’, Nasa expert says
THE universe is getting darker and one day stars will run out of the materials they need to form, according to a Nasa scientist.
The expert recently spoke about the dark theory at an event in New York.
Speaking at Artechouse’s Beyond the Light exhibit, Nasa scientist Dr. Michelle Thaller told a small group of attendees: “We can’t make a star out of anything other than hydrogen, so there’s a limited resource.
“There’s no more hydrogen being created and the hydrogen was all created during the Big Bang.”
All the matter in the universe, including much needed hydrogen, is thought to have come from the Big Bang event.
The Big Bang explosion is widely thought to have happened 13.8 billion years ago.
However, a limited amount of hydrogen isn’t the only thing thought to be slowing star formation.
Dr. Thaller continued: “Galaxy interactions and collisions seem to drive star formation.”
She went onto explain that as the universe is expanding, galaxies are growing further apart.
That means less chances to interact and create new stars.
Dr. Thaller explained: “Galaxies billions of years ago had much much more interaction because the universe was smaller and now it’s getting bigger and they don’t interact as much, that’s why star formation is slowing down.”
One theory suggests that as stars die out, black holes will begin to dominate the universe.
According to the Astronomy website, about 1 quadrillion to 1 duodecillion years after the Big Bang, the universe may enter a stage called the Degenerate Era.
This is predicted to be a time when black holes thrive and the universe grows cold and dark.
Evenutally, as this timeline continues, the universe and the matter we understand now would cease to exist.
Dr. Thaller doesn’t necessarily think this would mean the end of all life.
She added: “But the question is what comes next?”
Human beings would likely be long dead by this proposed time period but a different civilization could exist, according to the scientist.
She said: “There could be civilisations and beings that don’t need starlight.”