Hey, Here’s Good News: The Universe Is Officially Dying Out

Shutterstock

Officially

The end of summer — which is encroaching faster than we all wish to admit — is always a melancholy time. It’s impossible to not look back on the opportunities missed in the warm weather, while also sadly staring forward at all that awaits, which is nothing good. Work picks up in September, winter’s chill approaches in November, the sun hits its lowest point in the sky in December.

So while August should be an enjoyable month, it’s more often a tortured period of time.

What better time to announce that leading astronomers have determined the universe is actually dying out?

Makes the holidays seem a little more tolerable this year, no?

In the most massive study of the universe ever, scientists measured the energy output of 200,000 galaxies and found that they were ALL producing half the energy they were two billion years ago. Eventually, that means we are gonna run out.

Via NPR:

The [Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA)] research is the largest-ever multi-wavelength survey and includes energy output at 21 energy wavelengths, from the ultraviolet to the far infrared, according to the group.

What the researchers found is that the decline is seen across all wavelengths.

“Once you’ve burned up all the fuel in the universe, essentially, that’s it,” says Joe Liske of the University of Hamburg, one of the members of the research team. “The stars die, like a fire dies, and then you have embers left over that then glow but eventually cool down. And the fire just goes out,” Liske told NPR.

Sounds bleak, brah? Could you make it somehow worse?

“This pretty much closes the case: Yes, it’s coming to an end,” [John Beacom, a physicist at Ohio State] says.

Guess I don’t need to bother finishing this blog post.