wald (08/12/82)
Read something that is bothering me (in Aug 82 Sky and Telescope). According to the article a black hole with the mass of our universe will "evaporate" (I think that's the right word) in 1.7 * 10**135 years. Does this explain the possible singularity of the big bang. I.e. if the universe is collapsing will the big bang cycle take place approx. every 10**135 years. Is it reasonable to ask where the particles escaping the universal black hole are going? The article "Opinautics: a matter of much gravity" is one of these strange articles discussing anti future universes - I'm intrigued but can't claim to truely follow the concepts.
doug@sri-unix (08/16/82)
Whether the universe will eventually expand out and die in the so-called "heat death" or pull back on itself and start all over is still very much in question. The answer apparently hinges on the actual amount of MASS in the universe. Cosmologists are forever trying to find mass - is there some hidden in black holes? are there "halos" of magnetic monopoles hovering about? etc?