Shedding Light on Dark Energy
source: http://www.smh.com.au/world/science/shedding-light-on-the-dark-force-pulling-the-universe-ap...
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- DeliaTheArtist
- added this
"There is an awful lot of it about but what it is remains the "most profound mystery in science", says the man who gave it its name: dark energy.
This weird, invisible force that is pushing the galaxies apart at a faster and faster rate accounts for almost three-quarters of the universe, the University of Chicago cosmologist Michael Turner said yesterday.
"It's very different than anything else we know," Professor Turner, who was attending a conference in Canberra, said. "Until we understand what dark energy is, we don't understand the destiny of the universe."
Yesterday astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope released the most accurate measurement so far of the expansion rate of the universe, based on observations of pulsating stars and recent exploding stars, called type 1a supernovas.
Adam Reiss, of Johns Hopkins University, said his team's results narrowed the possibilities for dark energy.
They supported the simplest idea about the repulsive force: that it was very similar to the cosmological constant Albert Einstein proposed a century ago to explain why the universe did not collapse under the pull of gravity.
Professor Turner said dark energy had some remarkable characteristics.
"It seems to be smoothly distributed throughout the universe," he said.
"The feature that gives it repulsive gravity is that it is extraordinarily elastic. It wants to scrunch up."
Professor Schmidt, of the Australian National University, said the cosmic acceleration meant "the universe is slowly fading away on us".
Much more at link, check it out! Mysterious indeed!
This weird, invisible force that is pushing the galaxies apart at a faster and faster rate accounts for almost three-quarters of the universe, the University of Chicago cosmologist Michael Turner said yesterday.
"It's very different than anything else we know," Professor Turner, who was attending a conference in Canberra, said. "Until we understand what dark energy is, we don't understand the destiny of the universe."
Yesterday astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope released the most accurate measurement so far of the expansion rate of the universe, based on observations of pulsating stars and recent exploding stars, called type 1a supernovas.
Adam Reiss, of Johns Hopkins University, said his team's results narrowed the possibilities for dark energy.
They supported the simplest idea about the repulsive force: that it was very similar to the cosmological constant Albert Einstein proposed a century ago to explain why the universe did not collapse under the pull of gravity.
Professor Turner said dark energy had some remarkable characteristics.
"It seems to be smoothly distributed throughout the universe," he said.
"The feature that gives it repulsive gravity is that it is extraordinarily elastic. It wants to scrunch up."
Professor Schmidt, of the Australian National University, said the cosmic acceleration meant "the universe is slowly fading away on us".
Much more at link, check it out! Mysterious indeed!
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- Tech, Upstream, Science, Weird Science
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csmonut
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Here is a good article that touches on dark energy and other cosmic occurances.
http://discovermagazine.com/2009/may/10-frontiers-of-astronomy
- 3 years ago
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csmonut
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hydroskunk420
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in to high for this shit.
- 3 years ago
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hydroskunk420
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Donovanwilliams
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Very interesting! if we fully understand dark energy will we be able to create a Warp field? Then obviously a warp drive.... like our modern day Ion drive? hmmm...... a few hundred years off I suppose.
- 3 years ago
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Donovanwilliams
