# @science on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DQXge07EgWP
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/36289674-science-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/7585924efe.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-10-28T21:03:32.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Science 🧬 (@science) — https://gondola.cc/science

## Caption

The Universe is not heading toward a quiet freeze trillions of years from now. A new model built on fresh dark energy data says the cosmos may be on a timer, and it is already halfway done. Physicist Henry Tye and collaborators Hoang Nhan Luu and Yu-Cheng Qiu calculate that the Universe’s total lifespan is about 33 billion years. We are 13.8 billion years in, which means roughly 20 billion years remain.⁠
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For the next 11 billion years, the Universe will keep expanding, but more and more slowly. Then expansion stops at a maximum size about 1.7 times larger than today. After that, gravity wins. Space itself reverses and everything begins to fall inward. The final act is swift: in about 8 billion years of contraction, all matter, energy, and spacetime collapse into a single point. This “big crunch” would be the reverse of the Big Bang.⁠
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The turning point lies in the cosmological constant, a term Albert Einstein introduced to describe how space evolves. For decades, measurements suggested it was positive, driving eternal expansion. The new analysis argues it is slightly negative. A negative value does not push outward, it pulls inward forever, ensuring an eventual collapse.⁠
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To fit the data, the team adds an ultralight axion field. Early on, the axion behaves like dark energy, fueling today’s acceleration. Over time, its push weakens until the negative cosmological constant takes over and triggers the crunch. Results from the Dark Energy Survey in Chile and the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument in Arizona both hint that dark energy may be changing over time.⁠
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This is not certain. The model depends on how dark energy truly behaves, and new observations will refine it. If dark energy evolves, the Universe may have an endpoint. If not, expansion could continue indefinitely. Either way, cosmology now dares to measure the lifespan of everything.⁠
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#cosmology #darkenergy #bigcrunch #bigbang #astrophysics #universe #spacetime #gravity #einstein #axion #desi⁠
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Source: 10.1088/1475-7516/2025/09/055

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## Tags

bigcrunch, universe, cosmology, desi, darkenergy, spacetime, gravity, astrophysics, axion, einstein, bigbang

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