The end of the universe will not be accompanied by a giant explosion, but simply when the end of time comes, it will stop. Time will decrease gradually until one day it just stops.
This will happen after billions of years, but has already been established that it will surely happen. Ten years ago, astronomers found that distant supernovae - stars that explode at the edges of the universe - move more quickly, when they get closer to its heart.
According to the initial assumption, these supernovae have begun to accelerate their movements after an explosion in space.
Dark energy is probably what fuels the acceleration of the supernovae. But nobody has the slightest idea what dark energy is and where it comes from.
According to new theories, however, it is not a question of dark energy but that the acceleration is caused by time itself, which is gradually slowing down, as in, it works like a clock, which must be wound.
And even though in human terms, the changes occurring in the universe are very slow, in terms of cosmology, studying the Sun that shines for billions of years, the time delay can be easily measured.
Astronomers are able to measure it with the so-called red light technique. The principle of its operation is like an ambulance siren, the sound is louder when one is closer and quieter when farther away. Thus behave stars that are getting closer to us and those that are moving away.
The stars that are moving away from us, are redder than those that are getting closer. If time slows, our time dimension becomes a whole new dimension of space, which seemingly occurs under acceleration.
This theory is developed using the theory of superstrings, the so-called Theory of Everything, according to which our universe is confined to the surface of a membrane that floats in space.
After a few billion years, time will just stop. Then everything will freeze in place for a moment, but at that time our planet will probably have been long gone.
