io9: Dark Energy

Finding the star in this supernova could unlock the secrets of the universe

Alasdair Wilkins — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:47:57 PST

Right at the center of this image, there's a dim orange dot. Somewhere around that dot, one of the stars in a binary system once went supernova, creating the vast red gaseous remnant you see all around it. More »

Super-fat galaxy cluster confirms existence of dark matter and dark energy

Alasdair Wilkins — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:44:38 PST

This galaxy cluster is nicknamed El Gordo, which means "The Fat One" in Spanish. Located seven billion light-years away, it's the biggest cluster ever found at that distance — and it's resounding proof that dark matter is everywhere in the cosmos. More »

Is dark energy changing over time?

Alasdair Wilkins — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 16:05:09 PST

Dark energy accounts for 70% of everything in the universe, and yet we know almost nothing about it. Now a new model meant to explain some impossibly massive galaxy clusters is here, to make dark energy even more fiendishly complex. More »

Why is the universe pointing in one direction?

Alasdair Wilkins — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 14:25:00 PST

While the faster-than-light neutrinos are grabbing all the physics-shattering attention, there's another strange, unexplained anomaly that might be about to rewrite our understanding of the cosmos. It's all because the universe isn't as monotonous as it should be. More »

All the winners of this year's Nobel Prizes in science!

Alasdair Wilkins — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 18:04:13 PDT

The 2011 Nobel Prizes have been announced, honoring preeminent achievements in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, the promotion of peace, and economics. Here's what you need to know about the three science-related Nobel Prizes. More »

Gigantic gravitational waves could explain the universe's biggest mysteries

Alasdair Wilkins — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 16:00:00 PDT

Modern physics assumes the universe is the same all over... but that might not be the case. Until recently, physics held that the universe was contracting... now we're stuck with dark energy. But one moderately insane new theory could explain it all. More »

The Higgs boson might explain the origins of the universe and dark energy

Alasdair Wilkins — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 15:49:47 PDT

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We still haven't found the Higgs boson, the hypothetical particle that explains why other particles possess mass. But that might not be the only cosmic mystery the Higgs can solve. It could also explain how the universe got its shape. More »

What does dark energy mean for the end of the universe?

Alasdair Wilkins — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 14:40:42 PDT

Dark energy is perhaps the most mysterious thing in the cosmos, and yet it accounts for 73% of the observable universe. What's more, the amount of dark energy seems to be increasing...and that could ultimately rip apart the entire universe. More »

Holographic Dark Information Energy: It's a real thing. Maybe.

Esther Inglis-Arkell — Tue, 31 May 2011 07:00:00 PDT

There's a theory that involves every cool buzzword in physics. This theory links the dark energy in the universe with the way photocopies degrade over time. Find out how a loss of information may drive energy creation. More »

The Hubble telescope eliminates one possible alternative to dark energy

Alasdair Wilkins — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 11:12:10 PDT

The universe is expanding at an accelerating rate, and we don't know why. Dark energy is needed to explain this, but what is this strange phenomenon? We don't know, but NASA has conclusively ruled out an alternative to dark energy. More »

Stellar wormholes could link stars with tunnels of phantom matter

Alasdair Wilkins — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 15:30:47 PST

A seriously strange new theory says that stars may be connected through a system of stellar wormholes, linking distant pairs of stars thanks to an exotic material known only as phantom matter. Oh yes, this is going to get weird. More »

Watch the world's first dark energy detector take shape

Alasdair Wilkins — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 11:01:37 PST

This massive camera is about to head to Chile on a five-year mission to find evidence of dark energy. And now, through the magic of time-lapse photography, you can watch as Fermilab technicians bring the future of science to life. More »

The first picture that really shows dark matter

Charlie Jane Anders — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 13:23:24 PDT

That heart-shaped purple glow amidst that cluster of galaxies isn't bursting with love — it's dark matter, as measured by NASA's Cosmic Lens, and it may be our best clue to the mysterious nature of dark energy. More »

Are physicists just making up dark energy?

Dr. Dave Goldberg — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 06:30:00 PDT

In this week's "Ask a Physicist," I get defensive about dark energy. It dominates the universe; it's completely absurd; and it's apparently absolutely necessary. More »

New cosmic mapping method may be just what we need to find dark energy

Alasdair Wilkins — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 10:00:00 PDT

Three-fourths of the universe's matter and energy is thought to be dark energy, the mysterious thing that is causing universal expansion to accelerate. A new way of mapping huge cosmic structures might finally shed some light on this dark energy. More »

You Light Up My Life. Or Do You? Bright Stars and Dark Energy

Esther Inglis-Arkell — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:00:00 PST

For decades astronomers have used the Astronomical Magnitude Scale to measure the brightness of stars. But what if they're measuring with an inaccurate ruler? And how could that screw up the quest to understand dark energy? More »

More Evidence that Dark Energy Is Ripping the Universe Apart

Annalee Newitz — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 10:46:27 PST

At a press conference today, NASA announced new measurements from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory confirm the existence of "dark energy" that is causing the universe to expand - and disintegrate - at a rapid clip. More »

Earth: A Very Special Place In the Void

Ed Grabianowski — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:20:00 PDT

You know that "I'm an insignificant dot in the middle of this enormous universe" feeling you get when you stare up into the night sky a little too long? Well, some Oxford scientists think you might be a little more special than that - or at least, the planet you live on is. Their radical new theory would not only obviate the need for dark energy to explain observed patterns of galactic motion, it would overturn the centuries-old Copernican Principle. Not bad for a day's work. More »

Heaviest, Farthest Cluster Points Toward Dark Energy

Ed Grabianowski — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 08:00:00 PDT

The XMM-Newton space telescope has been really into dark and heavy stuff lately. No, the x-ray observatory didn't find its parents' old Black Sabbath albums — it found the most massive galactic cluster on record, a conglomerate of galaxies weighing more than 1,000 times as much as the Milky Way. The cluster's extreme distance is a puzzling paradox, or it might help prove that the universe is full of mysterious dark energy. More »

Ultracold Polar Telescope Searches for Dark Energy

Ed Grabianowski — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:30:43 PDT

Is an invisible, undetectable force tearing the universe apart? The South Pole Telescope is scanning the skies for signs of dark energy to help pinpoint the cause of cosmic expansion. The answers it provides could allow us to better explain the origin of the universe and its ultimate fate. More »

Is Dark Energy the New Aether?

Ed Grabianowski — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:45:48 PDT

You may think physics has changed over the past 200 years, but it hasn't. Today, theoretical physicists can't understand why the universe is expanding at an observed rate that doesn't quite mesh with general relativity. Back in the 19th century, theoretical physicists couldn't understand how electromagnetic energy and gravity could propagate through empty space. The proposed solution in both cases was the same: there must some stuff out there that we can't see, yet affects the entire universe. In the past, that substance was aether. Is today's dark energy the modern equivalent? More »

Galaxies' Swan Dive May Give New Clues To Dark Energy

Charlie Jane Anders — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:00:07 PST

One day, we'll use images like this waterfall of galaxies to figure out where to refuel our ships with dark energy. That's because this computer simulation of millions of galaxies flowing towards the red zone, the area with the highest mass, gives some clues to the location and nature of dark energy and dark matter. The image shows a "snapshot" of galaxies in the process of forming large-scale structures, 10 billion years ago. Click through for details. More »