LOS ANGELES, Aug. 12 (PNA/Xinhua) — An international team of astronomers have confirmed that the energy in the universe today is only about half of what it was two billion years ago and they’re continuing to fade. The universe is slowly dying, their study showed.
The findings, presented at the ongoing International Astronomical Union’s 29th General Assembly in Honolulu, Hawaii, reveal the extent to which the cosmos are apparently losing steam, which could help astronomers better understand the evolution and structure of the cosmos.
“We used as many space and ground-based telescopes as we could get our hands on to measure the energy output of over 200,000 galaxies across as broad a wavelength range as possible,” says Simon Driver, who heads the large GAMA team.
The fact that the universe is slowly fading has been known since the late 1990s, but this work shows that it is happening across all wavelengths from the ultraviolet to the infrared, representing the most comprehensive assessment of the energy output of the nearby Universe, according to a press release.
That means they can look at light from stars that are both young and old, as well as light that has been absorbed and then re-emitted by dust. So the new assessment of the Universe’s decline includes information from a huge variety of galaxies, including those hidden behind dust.
“The universe will decline from here on in, sliding gently into old age. The universe has basically sat down on the sofa, pulled up a blanket and is about to nod off for an eternal doze,” Driver said.
The study, which is part of the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) project, the largest multi-wavelength survey ever put together, involved many of the world’s most powerful telescopes including the European Southern Observatory’s ground-based VISTA and VST telescopes at the Paranal Observatory in Chile and space telescopes like NASA’s GALEX and WISE and the European Space Agency’s Herschel. (PNA/Xinhua) JBP/EBP