YES! Well, nearly forever. Does that surprise you? Did you think the expanding universe would someday erase the stars from our night sky? Here’s the truth as understood by modern astrophysicists: while the universe is expanding, the stars you see at night, nearly all part of our Milky Way, are gravitationally bound—and always will be.
The constellations change shape at varying rates and the night sky is quite different every 10,000 years or so. So, the shapes we see today were quite different from just 10,000 years ago. But, a night sky full of constellations will always be a part of our future.
And, our galaxy is part of a Local Group of over 50 galaxies, all gravitationally bound together. Just as planets orbit the Sun, the stars, galaxies, and dust within our Local Group are locked together in a cosmic “island.”
How big is this island? Imagine this: both Star Wars and Star Trek take place entirely within a galaxy. Star Trek takes place in the Milky Way, and Star Wars takes place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Our Local Group of galaxies is an unimaginably vast expanse of space. While trillions of distant galaxies will vanish beyond the cosmic horizon, our Local Group will remain bound together, for at least trillions of years.
Over time, some galaxies will merge. For example, the Milky Way and Andromeda are on a collision course and will one day form a massive galaxy. But this process is so slow that the night sky will change imperceptibly on human timescales. And stars are far apart, they’re unlikely to collide. Instead, their gravitational pull will reshape the stars into a new galaxy.
For a deeper exploration of our expanding universe, take the 10-minute deep dive: The Expanding Universe Explained.
