From: nedlatham@internode.on.net   
      
   James Goetz wrote:   
   >   
   > Lord Kelvin's prediction of heat death indicates the eventual end   
   > to star formation in the observable universe.   
   >   
   > Have any astrophysicists made any predictions for the endurance of   
   > star formation in the observable universe?   
   >   
   > Or does anybody here want to take a crack at predicting it?   
      
   It'll continiue forever.   
      
   Despite what the proponemts of BBT say, there is no beginning, and   
   there is no end.   
      
   > [[Mod. note --   
   > 1. This is really an astronomy question rather than a general physics   
   >    question, so I have set the  Followup-To  header to point to our   
   >    sister newsgroup   sci.astro.research  .   
      
   It might seem so at first, but there's an aspect to the question that   
   keeps it firmly in the area of basic physics. I have, accordingly,   
   undone the Followup-To action.   
      
   Entropy and gravity work antagonistically (so to speak). The one works   
   to disperse energy/matter; the other to consolidate it/them.   
      
   We can regard the universe as a closed system, but unlike the Second   
   Law, we cannot ignore gravity.   
      
   Ned   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)