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“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.” 
― Albert Einstein

The universe is an enigma to all of us, no one is able to confirm its ending and there is a lot more to know.

WHAT MAKES UP THE UNIVERSE?

Earth and all the planets in our solar system make up just a tiny part of the universe.Billions of other stars like our Sun all form a group called the Milky Way Galaxy. With telescopes we can see billions of other galaxies. Galaxies are in turn clumped together in enormous groups called clusters and superclusters. There are at least 100 billion—that’s 100,000,000,000—galaxies in the universe. The universe is a big place!

The universe holds many strange things, such as exploding stars. It holds great clouds of gas and dust where new stars form. It also holds black holes. Black holes have a pulling force called gravity. Gravity is the force that holds you to the ground and makes things fall when you drop them. Black holes suck in all the matter around them. The gravity of black holes is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape.

WHEN DID THE UNIVERSE BEGIN?

Many astronomers think the universe began about 14 billion years ago. They think it suddenly exploded into being. They call this beginning the big bang. All space and time began with the big bang. With a special telescope, astronomers can see radiation left over from the big bang. They call this cosmic background radiation.

A closer look shows each tiny speck is a whole galaxy, containing hundreds of stars and planets .

The big bang theory says that the universe was hotter than you can even imagine at the moment it began. The universe started to fly outward, or expand. As it expanded, it started to cool. Tiny particles that would make up matter started to form. All of this happened in just a few minutes.

WILL THE UNIVERSE END?

Astronomers want to know what will happen to the universe. They think it is still expanding. In fact, the universe seems to be expanding faster and faster as time goes on. Many astronomers think the universe will go on expanding forever. If it keeps on expanding, everything in the universe will eventually grow cold. Billions of years in the future even the stars will stop shining.