dark energy

Dark energy may not have much in common with aliens, unless there's a flotilla of freaky monoliths out there with really weird physical properties. But astrophysicists hope to build a two-in-one space telescope that can search for signs of dark energy along with exoplanets.

[ Read Full Story ]

Dark energy is a mysterious force that cosmologists use to fill gaps in our model of why our universe continues its ever-faster expansion. But now two mathematicians have found a way to explain those baffling observations of the universe without the dark energy question mark hanging overhead.

[ Read Full Story ]

In an attempt to explain why the light emitted from distant galaxies appears dimmer than predicted, some astronomers may have inadvertently provided the first evidence of dark energy.

Dark energy is the theoretical force behind the expansion of time and space. Dark energy has yet to be experimentally observed, despite the fact that it may represent the vast majority of all the material universe.

[ Read Full Story ]

Granted, it might not seem like such a big deal when astronomers find some of the missing mass in the universe, since there's very little that isn't missing. Roughly 95 percent of the cosmos is either dark matter or dark energy. About five percent of the universe is made up of the normal mass we're familiar with—baryonic matter. Yet by adding up the known stars and galaxies and gas, astronomers have only accounted for about half of that five percent.

[ Read Full Story ]