I'm looking for another short SF story where Google has no clue as the premise is kind of dated: the Big Bang and expanding universe have grabbed the reigns from the Steady State Theory...
The story starts with some background: the Universe was found to be fixed, with all stars held in position in the night sky. Not only that, but the stars were aligned to a gigantic geometric pattern that contained a definite centre point, but that we could not yet see as not enough time had passed in the Universe for light to have travelled the great distance we were from it.
Fast forward to a meeting of astronomers on a cold winter evening, on the night of the supposed arrival of the light from the centre of the Universe. Much talk on its effects, incidental conversation, and then it strikes, a blinding light from the heavens opposite the growing dawn from the sun.
The initial effects are devastating in under an hour: the lingering snow melts, the ocean surface gives of great clouds of steam that then turn into clouds that block at least some of the light, but hurricanes and tornadoes quickly developed and wreak havoc in the towns and cities.
As the sun rises there is a strange glow all around it as the Earth casts a shadow into the daylight from the blinding light behind, and the heat, whilst unbearable, stabilises for a while. The main character of the story describes seeking shelter with a fellow survivor in a wrecked building and the story ends with the two turning towards the new dawn at the end of the day, the final dawn anyone would ever see....
I read this about 30 years ago from a book on a dusty school bookshelf, so it's definitely not recent. I'd be very grateful if someone had any idea what I was on about :-)