this post was submitted on 06 Nov 2025
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Dark Energy Debate Reignites As Study Finds Universe's Expansion Is Actually Slowing (hothardware.com)
submitted 2 weeks ago by artifex@piefed.social to c/science@lemmy.world
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Big Crunch, here we come! A new study is implying that the universe may actually be slowing down and that the culmination of the decrease in dark energy could spell a reverse big bang.

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[–] Chee_Koala@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

"... the universe has already passed its point of maximum acceleration and has entered a phase of decelerated expansion at the present epoch."

oh no :( i want another 500 ca-trillion years, not just a couple billion.

[–] anugeshtu@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

If it's slowing down right now instead of expanding what was previously observed, that actually means that there was quite a force to get it into the other direction. Or am I misinterpreting things?

[–] ol_capt_joe@piefed.ee 9 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Slowed expansion doesn't mean contraction, it means getting bigger less quickly (and then collapsing later, probably, but not now).

But yes, what's providing the resistance to make galaxies not drift apart so quickly? Is it dark energy, is it regular ass gravity, is it wishy thinking?

[–] SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 2 weeks ago

Definitely the ass gravity.

[–] krooklochurm@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 weeks ago

It's the power of love.

[–] anugeshtu@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

Isn't expansion comparable to speed instead of acceleration? If the universe is expanding, i.e., already spreading in all kinds of directions constantly, wouldn't slower expansion mean deceleration? But I guess you meant the same with "eventual collapse later, but probably not now".