[Previous] | [Session 19] | [Next]
J. C. Mather (NASA GSFC)
From Big Bang to Big Crunch? or little whimper? What happens to the Earth when it's old? Cosmologists tackle this question with measurements of stellar evolution, distant supernovae, black holes, the cosmic microwave background radiation, and the so-far-invisible dark matter. Were Newton and Einstein wrong about gravity? How will astronomers find out? Future telescopes and particle physics experiments will help us guess, but how will we know when we are right? I will outline a possible astronomical future and a way to find out what it may be.