The universe (if it were stable for all this time—and we have no reason to believe it is—and infinite in spatial dimension—and it very well could be) is old enough to have a 50% chance of light reaching us from an object completely identical to
The universe (if it were stable for all this time—and we have no reason to believe it is—and infinite in spatial dimension—and it very well could be) is old enough to have a 50% chance of light reaching us from an object completely identical to
The universe (if it were stable for all this time—and we have no reason to believe it is—and infinite in spatial dimension—and it very well could be) is old enough to have a 50% chance of the light of a living being entirely similar to
Even enormous galactic black holes with original masses equal to several billion solar masses, such as the one that lay at the center of Milkomeda, the galaxy born from the merger of (our) Milky Way and Andromeda, evaporate.
Even galactic black holes with original masses of several million solar masses evaporate.
The decay of protons lowers the atomic number of atoms in the Universe: even white dwarfs (re)transform into hydrogen.
The decay of protons lowers the atomic number of atoms in the Universe: the metallic nuclei of the remaining rocky planets are transformed into hydrogen.
Bismuth half-life: 50% of bismuth decays. Bismuth will be the last element to disappear.
Galaxies gradually evaporate due to the gravitational slingshot effect caused by random close encounters between stars.
Red dwarfs become black dwarfs, veritable stellar corpses.
The electromagnetic radiation of stars is stretched by the accelerated expansion (by dark energy) of the Universe and the wavelength of photons becomes longer than that of the visible Universe.
Other galaxies become invisible due to the redshift
Due to the redshift, the gigantic Virgo Cluster falls beyond our visible horizon and Milkomeda remains the only observable galaxy.
In the theory conceived in 2003 by Robert Caldwell, the strength of dark energy grows so dramatically that it soon disintegrates matter itself until the Big Rip in 20 billion years. The theory is not widely accepted in the scientific community.
The Sun’s core runs out of helium. Gravity takes over and causes a new collapse of the core, triggering violent and unstable fusions. A series of four convulsions occurs, each separated by 100,000 years. The Sun reaches a terrifying luminosity of 5,200 times its current
The Sun’s core compresses and heats up to 100 million degrees. The heat expands to the outer layers, transforming it into a bloated red giant 250 times larger and 2,700 times brighter than today. The Earth reaches the solar atmosphere, and soon the friction causes
The Sun’s hydrogen shell ignites and our star grows to twice its current size.
Second collision between the Milky Way and Andromeda. At this point, the two galaxies are an ellipsoidal cluster of nearly 1 trillion stars: an elliptical galaxy that T.J. Cox and Abi Loeb of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics call Milkomeda.
The Sun (and the Solar System), if the Milky Way did not collide with Andromeda, would leave the Orion Arm and enter the Perseus Arm, towards the Galactic Center.
The Milky Way’s central black hole grows from a few million to a few billion solar masses thanks to a glut of stars triggered by the instability caused by the initial impact with Andromeda. Eventually, the object cyclically transforms into a very bright quasar for
In the merger of our Galaxy (the Milky Way) and that of Andromeda, the Sun has a 12% chance of ending up in the tidal tail and being ejected into the depths of intergalactic space, a 3% chance of being engulfed by Andromeda in subsequent
The Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxy collide for the first time. Gravity creates rings and ripples in the stellar distribution, expelling a gigantic arc containing more than a billion stars into the intergalactic void.
The Sun completes its next orbit around the galactic center
Approximate estimated time of the disappearance of Saturn’s rings, inexorably attracted to the planet and crashing into it.
Next passage of the Great Comet of January 1910. In 1910 it was very bright, visible even to the naked eye and during the day.
Comets launched into the inner Solar System by the passage of the Scholz binary star are hurtling around the Sun, threatening even Earth. The Scholz binary star was discovered in 2013 AD and is composed of a red dwarf and a brown dwarf, both very
The red dwarf star Gliese 710 passes just 1 light-year from the Sun, interfering with the Oort Cloud and launching several million comets toward the inner Solar System and thus Earth. At this point, Gliese 710 shines in the sky with a magnitude equivalent to
850 light-years away, the (now) blue supergiant Rigel, in the constellation of Orion, explodes in a spectacular type II supernova, lighting up Earth’s night sky like 100 full moons concentrated in one spot. Before Rigel, Orion’s other very bright star, Betelgeuse (620 light-years away), may
Two symbols of human greatness will disappear: the pyramids of Giza and the astronauts’ footprints on the Moon.
(current age of the Universe) The universe, considered with discrete time and matter with discrete quantum structure and discrete states, that is, considered as a gigantic computer that processes information (qubits), has processed since the Big Bang about 10^123 binary operations in the available 4E17s,
The neutron star (100 trillion times denser than steel) born from the explosion of the supernova RX J185635-3754 passes (at 100 km/s) 170 light years from Earth
The constellations will have become unrecognizable due to the proper motions of the individual stars. By then, Betelgeuse will have exploded as a supernova.
Comet Hyakutake’s next pass. It previously passed near Earth in 1996.
The star Ross 248 will take away Proxima Centauri’s title as the closest star to the Sun.
The radio signal sent by Frank Drake from Arecibo reaches the globular cluster M13, composed of 300,000 stars
The seasons in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres are reversed compared to today, due to the precession of the equinoxes.
Halley’s Comet passes by Earth for the first time in 75 years. Keep the evening free in your calendars!
Discovery of the third interstellar object passing through our Solar System. It is 3I/ATLAS (or C/2025 N1 ATLAS or also A11pl3Z), discovered by ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) in Rio Hurtado, Chile. It is likely a comet, but with a very high velocity of
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has found markers of possible abundance of life in the atmosphere of an exoplanet. K2-18 b has a mass 8.6 times that of Earth and a diameter about 2.6 times larger than our planet. It orbits in the “habitable
Mare Crisium, Moon. Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost probe photographs a total solar eclipse (lunar eclipse on Earth).
Saturn’s moons have been discovered, bringing its total to 274: more than all the other planets in the solar system combined! The Lord of the Rings never ceases to amaze us. Edward Ashton of the Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan, and his colleagues discovered the
The Northern Lights are also visible from Emilia (I saw them in Novellara at 11:00 PM). The storm that hit Earth was caused by sunspot AR 3848, which on October 8th produced a strong solar flare of class X 1.8, the most powerful classified. The
Four massive coronal mass eruptions are on their way to Earth. The first arrived late this evening. We also saw the pink sky of the Northern Lights from Modena, Italy (latitude 44 degrees North), around 10:30 PM to the north. Rating G5 (5 on a
Total solar eclipse in North America, visible across a broad area covering Mexico, the United States, and Canada.
Analysis of samples from a massive meteorite reveals two minerals never before seen on our planet. Canadian researchers said the rock was found in rural Somalia two years ago, but locals believe it is much older. They call the stone Nightfall and say it is
During an exciting NASA live broadcast, also featuring President Joe Biden, the first science photos from the Webb Space Telescope (JWST) were released. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has produced the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date. Known as the
The first-ever image of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way. The image—which looks like a fuzzy orange donut (but as large as Mercury’s orbit)—is of the dust and shadow surrounding the black hole Sgr A* itself, seen by humanity for the
The Arecibo Telescope is announced for closure. Unfortunately, the damage caused by the collapse of some cables supporting one of the platforms above the main dish, first this August and then in early November, has compromised the safety of workers. After a few weeks, it
Venus. A particular gas, phosphine, which on Earth is linked to anaerobic life forms, has been detected in the clouds that make up Venus’ atmosphere. Jane Greaves and colleagues, as stated in our press release accompanying the research, observed Venus with the James Clerk Maxwell
total of 139 minor planetary bodies have been discovered in the Kuiper Belt. They join the 3,000 already known trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). The discovery was made using data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, collected from 2013
Clear evidence of water has been discovered in the atmosphere of K2-18b, a terrestrial planet orbiting in the Goldilocks zone, the region around its star with Earth-like environmental conditions. The lead scientist is Giovanna Tinetti of University College London. The planet is located 111 light-years
Washington, D.C. – Shepherd Doeleman of Harvard University and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics shows the first image ever captured of a black hole’s event horizon. This image of the black hole in M87 was captured by a network of radio telescopes called the Event
The American probe New Horizons successfully passes by the Ultima Thule object and begins transmitting photos. It is located 6 light-hours away.
Mars. The American Mars Insight probe lands on Martian soil, in the Elysium Planitia area.
The American Osiris-REX probe enters orbit around the asteroid Bennu. Osiris stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer, and Osiris is also a deity associated with life, fertility, death, and resurrection. Bennu is a bird, symbolizing birth and resurrection. The probe is
Mogadishu, Somalia. Exactly one year after Somalia’s worst massacre, which killed over 600 people, Hassan Adan Isak, the driver of the truck that was later blown up, has been executed.
The Soyuz Expedition-57 mission, carrying astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin, had to abort orbit insertion minutes after launch due to a problem during the jettisoning of the side boosters. The crew returned safely to Earth, but the space station remained occupied by only
Hudson Institute, Washington, DC. Vice President Mike Pence announces the new American doctrine toward China. It stems from analyses anticipated months earlier in a National Security Strategy document. It accuses China of violating WTO trade rules by imposing tariffs, forcing technology transfers, stealing intellectual property,
The Vatican and China sign a landmark agreement for the appointment of bishops: the Pope will have to approve the appointments. For the first time, China recognizes and accepts papal authority on its territory.
Japan’s Hayabusa-2 probe successfully lands its first two rovers on asteroid Ryugu.
The United States surpasses Saudi Arabia in oil production, with 10 million barrels per day. American natural gas production also reached a new peak, increasing 43% from 2007 to 2017, while coal consumption fell by 36% over the same period.
Viviane Slon and Svante Pääbo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, discover a hybrid between a Neanderthal (mother) and a Denisovan (father) that lived in Siberia 90,000 years ago.
During torrential rain, a 210-meter section (one of the arches) of the Morandi Bridge in Genoa collapsed, taking down 35 cars and three trucks. The cause is thought to be corrosion of the steel cables within the compressed concrete of the stays supporting the arches.
A total lunar eclipse, lasting a record-breaking 1 hour and 43 minutes (for the 21st century), with Mars simultaneously visible, positioned very close to the Moon in opposition (at its maximum diameter in the sky) with its atmosphere almost completely obscured by a sandstorm, and
team led by Roberto Orosei of the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) discovered a 20-kilometer-long lake of liquid saltwater beneath the Martian south polar cap. A few years later, in 2021, independent laboratory tests raised doubts about the possibility of liquid water under those
Sergio Marchionne, CEO of FCA, Ferrari, and CNH, has died. With the merger of Fiat and Chrysler, he is credited with saving both companies.
Helsinki. A summit meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin took place in Helsinki, with private talks lasting more than two hours.