The Future of Our Universe

The future of our planet and the universe is a topic that fascinates many people. In this article, we will explore what may happen in the next billion years, and beyond. A billion years from now, the Earth will be unrecognizable. Due to the sun's increasing luminosity, the average surface temperature will have increased to 47 degrees Celsius. The oceans will have already evaporated away, and liquid water will only exist at the poles, which will become the final bastions of life on our planet.

However, time will continue to move forward, and in 1.5 billion years, the sun's luminosity will have caused its habitable zone to move outwards further into the solar system. The surface temperature of Mars during these times will resemble the Earth during the last ice age and would make a good home for any future advanced civilizations.

In 2.3 billion years from now, the outer liquid core of Earth will freeze, which means that Earth will lose its magnetic field forever. By 2.8 billion years, Earth's average surface temperature will have dramatically increased to 149 degrees Celsius, which means that even simple single-celled organisms on the planet will have completely died out for the first time in billions of years. Earth will be devoid of any life.

In 3.3 billion years, there is a 1% chance that Mercury's orbit will become unstable, which will cause it to collide with Venus, obliterating both planets and throwing the inner solar system into chaos. In 3.5 billion years, the sun's luminosity will have increased by 40% of its present value. Earth's surface temperature will have skyrocketed to roughly one thousand three hundred thirty degrees Celsius, which is hot enough to melt rocks. Earth at this point in time will very closely resemble Venus during our own time.

In four billion years from now, our entire galaxy will change dramatically. The Andromeda Galaxy, which is even bigger than our own galaxy, is currently on a four-billion-year-long collision course with us. When they finally collide, our two galaxies will begin the process of merging together to form one united galaxy, and the night sky on any planet located inside of them will look far more dramatic than anything we see in our own night sky of the present.

In five billion years, the sun will have exhausted its supply of hydrogen and will begin to evolve into its red giant phase. Much later, in 7.59 billion years from now, the sun will have expanded dramatically to 256 times its current size, and the moon may fall apart and rain down onto the Earth's molten surface. By 7.9 billion years from now, Mercury, Venus, and most likely Earth will be totally swallowed by the sun and cease to exist.

During these times, however, it is hypothesized that a moon of Saturn named Titan could achieve surface temperatures warm enough to support life. This means that as the sun grows larger, civilization on Earth could flee deeper into the solar system to escape the heat. But after eight billion years, the sun will have finally become a white dwarf star equal to fifty-four percent of its current mass. Temperatures inside of the solar system will plummet afterwards, and all still-existing life will likely die.

The number of years in the future will now begin to dramatically increase, and we'll start by going 100 billion years into the future. By this point, the expansion of the universe will have pushed everything outside of our small local group of galaxies far enough away that nobody here will be able to observe them anymore. Any intelligent beings that may exist here at this point will believe that they are at the center of the universe in a small bastion of light surrounded by infinite darkness. We know this to not be true, but after eight billion years, the sun will have finally become a white dwarf star, equal to fifty-four percent of its current mass. Temperatures inside of the solar system will plummet, and all still-existing life will likely die. The number of years in the future will now begin to dramatically increase, and we'll start by going 100 billion years into the future. By this point, the expansion of the universe will have pushed everything outside of our small local group of galaxies far enough away that nobody here will be able to observe them anymore. Any intelligent beings that may exist here at this point will believe that they are at the center of the universe in a small bastion of light surrounded by infinite darkness. We know this to not be true, but in the future, nobody will have any way of proving this to be incorrect, which will likely have a profound impact on future philosophy and culture.

In 450 billion years, the 47 different galaxies of the local group will have further coalesced together into a single gigantic galaxy, and that feeling of loneliness will be even further amplified all the way until four trillion years from now. The closest star to Earth, named Proxima Centauri B, will have survived, but afterwards, this ancient star will finally die, just as the sun did trillions of years before it.

Finally, twelve trillion years from now, the last star that exists today alongside you watching this video will have died out. The universe will be full of new stars born after our present age, but even these will not last forever. 120 trillion years from now is when the final stars in the universe will die out. The only objects that will still exist in space by this point will be white dwarfs, neutron stars, brown dwarfs, and black holes. Occasional collisions between brown dwarfs could continue to create new red dwarf stars in this era, but they will be extremely rare. Because of these collisions, there may exist around 100 red dwarf stars in the entire Milky Way galaxy at this point, a galaxy which today is home to over 100 billion different stars. But even these final stars will eventually die, and the universe will turn dark forever afterwards.

120 trillion years though is a longer time than any of us can really comprehend, so on the bright side, humanity has plenty of time to enjoy the majesty of our universe before the lights finally turned off.