People love an apocalyptic spectacle. Meteor showers, collapsing stars, something dramatic enough to justify every disaster movie ever made. The real long-term cosmic forecast is stranger, slower, and way less cinematic. The Universe may not end. It may simply stretch itself thin until everything bright slips into permanent darkness.

Astrophysicist Stephen DiKerby outlines the scenario in The Conversation, describing a cosmic slow fade stretching across unimaginable lengths of time. The Universe has been expanding since the Big Bang 14 billion years ago, building itself from a hot haze of particles into stars, planets, and the whole swirling night sky. By watching distant galaxies evolve, scientists can piece together how things have unfolded so far and make educated guesses about where t

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