The Universe Is Disappearing, And There's Nothing We Can Do To Stop It
“Of the estimated two trillion galaxies in our Universe today, only about 3% of them are still reachable from the point of view of the Milky Way. This also means that 97% of the galaxies in our observable Universe are already out of humanity's reach, owing to the accelerated expansion of the Universe caused by dark energy. Every galaxy beyond our local group, as time goes on, is destined for that same fate.
Unless we develop the capacity for intergalactic travel and head out to other galaxy groups and clusters, humanity will forever be stuck in our local group. As time goes on, our ability to even send or receive signals to what lies beyond in the great cosmic ocean will fade from view. The accelerated expansion of the Universe is relentless, and the gravity we have isn't strong enough to overcome it. The Universe is disappearing, and there's nothing we can do to stop it.”
One of the most profound discoveries about the Universe occurred just 20 years ago. Not only was the Universe expanding, with distant galaxies getting farther and farther away as time goes on, but that expansion was accelerating. Take a look at any galaxy that isn’t gravitationally bound to our own, and if you watch it as time goes on, it will appear to move away from us faster and faster. At some point, when it gets to about 15 billion light years away from us, it will appear to recede faster than the speed of light. When it reaches that point, it means that anything that occurs within it won’t be viewable by us, and that if we left immediately, even at the speed of light, we’d never reach it.
Moreover, with every second that goes by, approximately 20,000 new stars cross that threshold into unreachability. The Universe is disappearing, and there’s nothing we can do about it.
