The theory of how the universe will end has divided scientists

The universe could end in a violent mass of star collisions like the one shown here in a NASA animation (Picture: NASA)

Imagine a future where Earth becomes unshackled from the Sun’s gravitational pull and flies off into the void.

And around three months later, it is violently torn apart in the space of a few minutes, leaving a cloud of atoms which then disintegrate in a tiny fraction of a second.

That’s the fate that some phyisicists believe could befall our planet – along...