They've also figured out that the universe should have started contracting long ago, but the presence of dark energy and dark matter has actually accelerated the expansion past the point where contraction should have begun. i think that's exactly HOW the dark energy/matter was theorized and/or discovered.
So; instead of a contraction, the universe may just expand so far that it's even bigger and has more space between everything; to the point where everything is spread out so thin, that nothing will even be visible form most points in space.
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