The Wide Angle: TOP 10 THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT DARK ENERGY

by Dave Mosher
 
dark energy cosmic web millennium project universe


This top 10 is part of our in-depth look at how astronomers have caught dark energy in the act of slowing down the universe's development. For much, much more of our series The Wide Angle, click around in the box to your right: "More of the Wide Angle"

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Dark energy is the biggest mystery in the cosmos, pervading the vast emptiness of space for billions of light-years. But if you thought you knew everything there was to know about this strange force, think again.

Discovery Space sat down with Michael Turner, a cosmologist at the University of Chicago, to pin down the 10 biggest things you didn't know about dark energy.

10. Dark Energy's Discoverer Didn't Coin the Term

Who came up with the term? "I did," Turner said. "That's because when you find something new and weird, you have to name it. It can't just be 'the funny stuff that helps the universe speed up.'"

The term is also used to say that it's different than dark matter, which is yet another weird constituent of the cosmos, and behaves more like energy than anything else that we know of.

Photo Credit: Millennium Simulation Project
 
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More of the Wide Angle

News: Dark Energy Revealed
You can look out into the universe and thank dark energy for being right here, right now.


Top 10: Things You Didn't Know About Dark Energy
If you thought you knew everything about dark energy, think again. Cosmologist Michael Turner shares 10 things you didn't know.


Video: Study Sheds Light On Dark Energy
New findings bolster the argument that dark energy is the reason our universe is expanding. James Williams explores the evidence.


IM Interview: How To Hunt For Dark Energy
Ever wonder how we know dark energy exists if we can't even see the stuff? We interview an X-ray astronomer.


My Take: Exciting Times Ahead for Dark Energy Search
Where is dark energy research headed in the future? An astronomer gives her take.


Blog: The Dark Energy Doubters
Some armchair astronomers simply don't believe all of this dark "stuff" exists. Find out why.


Blog: Far Future Forecast: Deep Darkness
How is dark energy going to shape the universe in the (really) far future?


Blog: The Big Yawn
What it's like to live with a cosmologist who's crazy about the biggest mysteries in the cosmos.


HowStuffWorks: How The Fate Of The Universe Works

 

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