TIMELINE OF THE FUTURE

36,000 YEARS:

The Sun Gets a New Neighbor:

Ross 248 (a small, neighboring dwarf star) passes within

3.024 light-years of earth, becoming the sun’s nearest

neighbor.

100,000 YEARS:

R.I.P. VY Canis Majoris:

By this time, the hypergiant star, VY Canis Majoris, will

have likely exploded in a hypernova (think “supernova,”

but with a LOT more energy)

1,000,000 YEARS:

The Sun Gets a Rival:

Highest estimated time until the red super-giant,

Betelguese, explodes in a brilliant supernova event. The

explosion should be easily visible during daytime.

1,400,000 YEARS:

Turbulent Times Ahead for Our Solar System:

Gliese 710 passes within 1.1 light-years of the Sun. This

may disturb the Oort Cloud, increasing the probability of a

comet striking a rocky body in the inner solar system

(perhaps even Earth)

8,000,000 YEARS:

So Long, Phobos: Mars Gets Rings!

Mars’ moon comes within 7,000 km of the planet. Tidal

forces will separate Phobos into small pieces and turn it

into a ring of orbiting debris that will continue to spiral in

toward the planet (meaning, we better hurry up and get

that moon base set up)

100,000,000 YEARS:

Planet-Wide Destruction=Danger

Earth will have likely been hit by a meteorite comparable

in size to the one that triggered the K-Pg extinction event

that happened some 65 million years.

1 BILLION YEARS:

The End of Earth (As We Know) is Near:

The ever-increasing luminosity of the Sun has long made

Earth uninhabitable. By now, the average temperature is -

320 K (47 C, 116 F). Little remains of Earth’s water. Even less life remains (if any at all).

3.5 BILLION YEARS:

Goodbye Forever, Pale Blue Dot:

Earth no longer bears any resemblance to the planet we

now call home. In fact, it’s now much more similar to

present-day Venus. The oceans are gone, so are the

magnetic field and the ozone layer. Plate tectonics have

also ceased. Earth is effectively dead.

4 BILLION YEARS:

The Sun Officially Becomes a Red-Giant:

Having exhausted the supply of hydrogen forged at its

core, the Sun begins to burn Helium. This sees the Sun

increase exponentially in diameter, while also steadily

losing mass. Mercury and Venus will be lost in this

expansion, but the future earth – now a barren and

desolate of its former self – remains uncertain.

4.4 BILLION YEARS:

The Sun Becomes a White-Dwarf:

After the Sun’s initial expansion ends, it will shrink until it’s

only a fraction of its original size. The entirety of its mass

will be crammed in a dense core that’s similar in the size

to Earth, called a white-dwarf. For a brief time, a planetary

nebula will illuminate space, until it disappear into nothingness.

5.1 BILLION YEARS:

Milkdromeda Enters a Starburst Period:

Once the literal and figurative dust settles, the newly-

formed elliptical galaxy will undergo a starburst period,

where millions of new stars will crop up. This activity could

see the central black hole become an active quasar (or

more likely, a microquasar).

10 BILLION YEARS:

Runaway Universe Could Collapse:

The big crunch is one manner in which the universe could

end, whereby a mysterious vacuum energy that opposes

gravity causes the entirety of space time to collapse in on

itself. One figure of this event says that it could happen in

as little as ten billion, to 20 billion, years.

100 BILLION YEARS:

The Virgo Supercluster Disappears:

Assuming the universe doesn’t go out with a crunch, the

expansion of the universe continues. At this point, the

Virgo Supercluster, which is home to our local Group and

about 100 other galaxy clusters, has been redshifted into

oblivion, now out of our sight for the rest of eternity.

450 BILLION YEARS:

Galaxies in Our Local Group Merge:

Despite the severity of our dark energy problem, gravity

reigns supreme, allowing the galaxies in our local group to

come together to form one large galaxy.

1 TRILLION YEARS:

The End of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR):

The CMBR is a relic of the big bang that provides us with a

window into a very first epoch of the universe’s existence.

Eventually, the expansion of the universe will not only

cause the temperature to dwindle down to nothing, but its

wavelength of light will be stretched to the point that it is no

longer detectable by any means; removing all evidence of

the big bang.

10 TRILLION YEARS:

The First Blue Dwarfs Emerge:

Because of their fully-convectional cores, red dwarf stars

can live for trillions of years before they transition into blue,

and then black dwarfs. Since red dwarfs are the most

populous of all the star types, blue dwarfs will eventually

become the only beacon of light in a dark, colorless void.

100 TRILLION YEARS:

The Universe is Effectively Dead:

Assuming the universe survives this long, dark energy will have already driven the galaxies off into

the abyss; leaving galaxies without star-formation material and the stars without the heat needed to

perform work. All that will remain from our current line of sight is our galaxy, now devoid of the light

from 400 billions stars. Planets will be flung from their respective locations and black holes will

eventually evaporate into nothing via hawking radiation.

A complete timeline of the future of our universe by Jaime Trosper, June 28, 2014. Retrieved from
https://futurism.com/the-future-of-the-universe/