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[RedKing]

The interesting bit about universal expansion is that eventually everything outside of the Local Group will be travelling away from us so fast that light (or *any* radiation, eventually) will become red-shifted to the point of being undetectable, because it will have a wavelength longer the observable universe. Then everything outside of the Local Supercluster. Then the Solar System.

If you were somehow able to record this and speed it up, you'd just watch various stars turn redder and dimmer and then wink out of existence entirely, until eventually the night sky was utterly void.

[misko27]

3 or 4 Billion years is a long, long time, even by astronomical standards. The Universe is considered to be 13.8 billion year old. 4 billion is around the age of life.

[MonkeyHead]

The Wiki article on the fate of an expanding universe is actually fucking awesome for those of you that wanted to know it...

[RedKing]

The Wiki article on the fate of an expanding universe is actually fucking awesome for those of you that wanted to know it...

Hehe, I just spent the last 10 minutes or so reading that, just before you posted it. 

And yes, it's awesome.

[Putnam]

I like to think that the expansion of the universe is like zooming into a fractal.

It's expanding, always has been expanding, always will be expanding. There was no 'big bang', is no god, just new particles popping out of the quantum foam like graceful spirals from what appeared to be a single pixel of a Mandelbrot set; with our wiewport limited by the speed of light.

I like that idea, but it's probably not true.

The main problem with that is that we can observe quite handily a time when the universe was opaque to light and we can observe the expansion of the universe; both of these things together mean that you go back far enough and you get a point in time where any two points in the universe have zero distance from one another (note that this doesn't mean "finite").

[RedKing]

The Wiki article on the fate of an expanding universe is actually fucking awesome for those of you that wanted to know it...

Read it about five times before.

I always find it kinda depressing. Then realise that it's well outside my lifetime.

Actually it's the latter part I find depressing. I could stand to watch the first 10¹⁰ years or so...

[Knit tie]

So why are we talking about stars and depression in the rage thread again?

[Levi]

The Wiki article on the fate of an expanding universe is actually fucking awesome for those of you that wanted to know it...

Read it about five times before.

I always find it kinda depressing. Then realise that it's well outside my lifetime.

Actually it's the latter part I find depressing. I could stand to watch the first 10¹⁰ years or so...

This guy wasn't a fan.

[kaenneth]

I like to think that the expansion of the universe is like zooming into a fractal.

It's expanding, always has been expanding, always will be expanding. There was no 'big bang', is no god, just new particles popping out of the quantum foam like graceful spirals from what appeared to be a single pixel of a Mandelbrot set; with our wiewport limited by the speed of light.

I like that idea, but it's probably not true.

The main problem with that is that we can observe quite handily a time when the universe was opaque to light and we can observe the expansion of the universe; both of these things together mean that you go back far enough and you get a point in time where any two points in the universe have zero distance from one another (note that this doesn't mean "finite").

We can't see outside of our light cone; but it would be silly to automatically assume that nothing is there just because we can't see it. The logical assumption would be 'more of the same' until proven otherwise.

[Putnam]

...No, I'm talking about the cosmic microwave background radiation, which is very much (chances now are 99.99997%) the remnant of a point in time where the universe was opaque.

[Helgoland]

In fact, does bay12 have the notion of rails?

The Bay12 community is like a train passenger, only there's no rails. And no wheels. And no train. And he's constantly talking with himself.

[Aklyon]

In fact, does bay12 have the notion of rails?

I know theres a quote around here somewhere that is Toady (pretty sure its him, anyway) basically saying 'try to stay on target, or at least enough to avoid casualties' one of the other times we've gone wildly offtopic.

[nenjin]

For the record, I can live with this kind of derail. At least it's educational and/or interesting to read.

It's the controversial topics that inevitably pit two or more people against each other, jokes or rapid fire nonsense that have gone on for a couple pages or more and quote pyramids that I ask people not to do.

On topic, the wider realities of the universe (the Sun white dwarfing/red gianting), black holes, the possible collapse of the universe, really fucked with me as a child. My parents like to keep a lot of high brow reading around, including a giant, wonderfully illustrated and laid out book of the galaxy which I constantly read. Even the understanding that it would be billions of years down the line, after I was worm-food, didn't make it any less sad for me.

[Mr. Strange]

...and quote pyramids that I ask people not to do.

You know that you're inviting more quote pyramids everytime you mention this, right?

[nenjin]

S'alright. I'll put a stop to it.