The stars themselves, however, will continue to burn for a long time. The Universe is already 14 billion years old, but the longest-lived stars today — the low-mass red dwarfs — will continue burning through their fuel extremely slowly: for perhaps more than 100 trillion years. After that, they’ll cool and contract, becoming white dwarfs and eventually going dark, a process that may take upwards of a quadrillion (10¹⁵) years. Even at that, there will still be new chances for flashes, flares, and other forms of illumination in the Universe. Brown dwarfs, which themselves are failed stars, will eventually collide-and-merge with one another, giving rise to new stars if they cross that threshold. Neutron star or white dwarf mergers will create a brief burst of energy. Amidst a dark cosmic backdrop, the occasional new light source will still emerge in our galactic remnant.