Taken at face value, observations consistently point towards Omega less than 1.0, and often by a handsome margin. Physicists have many candidates for this stuff, but there is no independent evidence that such 'matter' exists. True, many galaxies show they have some kind of non-luminous Dark Matter, but the amounts are always consistent with ordinary matter, and with a total Omega less than 10 percent of the critical value for an infinite, 'flat' universe. As for which kind of universe I would prefer to live in, it doesn't matter. In either case the prospects for life continuing indefinitely are bleak.
Life is doomed in either kind of universe.
Copyright 1997 Dr. Sten Odenwald Return to Ask the Astronomer .