Wednesday 11 October 2023

THINGS IN UNIVERSE WHICH NEVER STOP GROWING

 There are some things out there that defy our common sense and keep on growing, no matter what.

Let's start with the obvious one: the universe itself.

Yes, the universe is expanding, and not only that, but it's accelerating. That means that every second, the space between galaxies is getting larger and larger, and there is no sign of slowing down.

In fact, some scientists think that the universe will end in a "big rip", where everything will be torn apart by the dark energy that drives the expansion.

But don't worry, we have plenty of time before that happens.

The big rip is estimated to occur in about 22 billion years, give or take a few. By then, we will probably have other problems to deal with, like the death of our sun, or the heat death of the universe, or the zombie apocalypse.

So let's focus on the present, shall we?

What else is growing in the universe? Well, how about black holes?

Those mysterious objects that suck in everything around them, even light. You might think that black holes have a fixed size, determined by the mass of the star that collapsed to form them.

But you would be wrong again.

Black holes can grow by devouring other matter and energy, including other black holes.

And they can grow very fast.

For example, this year, astronomers detected a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy called J2157, which was growing at a rate of one sun per day. That's right, one sun per day.

The fastest-growing black hole - J2157 - It is billions of years from Earth, leaving scientists viewing it at 1.2 billion years old, less than a tenth of its current age

That means that this black hole was swallowing the equivalent of our entire solar system every week.

And it was already 34 billion times more massive than our sun.

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