Overview
- The unpublished study led by Douglas Scott examines about 2.6 million galaxies using Euclid maps with Herschel data and finds declining dust temperatures in the last billion years.
- Scientists interpret cooler galactic dust as evidence of fewer hot, young stars, reinforcing a long-observed downturn in the universe’s star-making activity.
- Astronomers say star production peaked roughly 10 billion years ago during the era known as Cosmic Noon and has steadily fallen since.
- A widely cited 2013 analysis estimated that around 95% of all stars that will ever form had already been born, leaving the universe dominated by older stars.
- Scott estimates new stars will still form for another 10 to 100 billion years, while far-future scenarios point to heat death on vastly longer timescales, with one estimate at roughly a 1 followed by 78 zeros years.