THE BIG RIP
The Big Rip theory is not accepted by a majority of scientists.
Scientist Robert Caldwell has developed a precise countdown to the utter destruction of the universe. The universe is predicted to end in 20 billion years.
In 19 billion years all galaxies will have moved so far apart so quickly that we will no longer be able to see them.
When the Milky Way begins to fly apart, there will be 60 million years left.
Planets in the solar system will fall away from the sun three months before the end of time. When Earth explodes, there are about thirty minutes of the universe's existence until atoms break apart. It seems that time itself will end.
Caldwell's theory was born when he and his colleagues were studying how a sphere of matter collapses under its own weight to form a galaxy. They worked with the concept using computer models, and they experimented by altering the factor of dark energy. If they altered it enough, the sphere would be prevented from collapsong. If they increased the power of dark energy to the extreme, the sphere exploded.
There are many unknown factors. The dark energy that is apparently driving expansion may or may not be a force currently known to physics. Dark energy may be nothing but a different manifestation of gravity over great distances. The acceleration of the universe could be a response to dark matter, which is believed to make up 23 percent of the universe. Caldwell notes that dark matter has unknown properties and may be related to dark matter.