The World

Don’t Panic! The Universe Expanding Faster Than Expected.

When things seem a little “off”, you might be right. Not only is the universe expanding, but it is expanding faster than we (i.e. astrophysicists) thought. But don’t worry, we’re only off by about 9%.

Look for the word “megaparsec” in this article. It means 3.26 million light years. 🚗💫🤯

An existential nightmare

Scary stuff…

If dark energy remains constant, everything outside our galaxy eventually will be moving away from us faster than the speed of light, and will no longer be visible. The universe will become lifeless and utterly dark.

As the universe expands, the push from phantom energy would grow without bounds, eventually overcoming gravity and tearing apart first Earth, then atoms.

But just a theory so far

Let’s science the sh*t out of this…

Two space missions — the European Space Agency’s Euclid and NASA’s Wfirst — have been designed to study dark energy and hopefully deliver definitive answers in the coming decade. The fate of the universe is at stake.