ASTR 2110

In this blog, I would like to share a very stunning video that provides a visualization of cosmic events and scales that is both awe-inspiring and humbling. I believe it is a creative and educational way to learn about astronomy and physics. Moreover, it serves as a philosophical reminder of our place in the universe.

Specifically, the video starts from the present day and projects the possible evolution of the universe for countless years into the future. This evolution spans time scales that go beyond our intuitive comprehension (trillions upon trillions of years). Over this incomprehensibly long time, not just humans but even the existence of stars becomes as insignificant as a grain of sand. After all the stars have disappeared, only the corpses of stars – black dwarfs and black holes – would remain in the universe. Even protons eventually decay at the end of time. Although black holes can exist for an extremely long time, they too eventually merge and evaporate at an incredibly slow pace. In the end, there is no matter left in the universe, and time becomes meaningless. From my personal perspective, although this video portrays a somewhat pessimistic view of the future of the universe, I feel that the birth and death of the universe is very similar to the cycle of life.