THE END OF THE UNIVERSE

A spectacular fireworks show will light up an otherwise pitch black universe. At the end of the universe, long after the last shining stars flicker out, there might be one final set of explosions. Called black dwarf supernova, these dazzling blasts will herald in the everlasting darkness as the universe sinks into dormancy. These newly proposed supernovas are a special breed that haven't yet happened anywhere in the universe. Black dwarf supernovas might be the last events that happen in the universe, which by then will be a largely empty space where the temperature approaches absolute zero. Stars' lives and deaths are determined by their mass. Large ones ten or more times the mass of the Sun explode as supernovas and can become black holes. But smaller ones, which don't produce heavier elements through nuclear fusion at their cores, end their lives as small dense husks of stars known as white dwarfs. Over trillions of years they dim and turn into frozen, lightless objects known as black dwarfs. These black dwarfs may ultimately release the final bits of light in the universe as they explode as supernovas. There are estimates that there will be about a billion trillion of these supernovas before the end of the universe, providing a spectacular sight in an otherwise pitch-black universe. After these final last gasps of light, nothing left in the universe will be able to explode or shine. So while the universe will seemingly end in ice, there will be a spark of fire along the way.