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PURESCIENCE

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Articles Posted: 0  Links Seeded: 36
Member Since: 12/2007  Last Seen: 11/05/2010

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Is dark energy getting weaker?

Seeded on Thu Apr 9, 2009 10:06 PM EDT
Read ArticleArticle Source: New Scientist.com
space, physics, science, astronomy, dark-matter, cosmology, dark-energy, darkmatter, universe-expansion
Seeded by PureScience
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AFTER billions of years of runaway expansion, is the universe starting to slow down? A new analysis of nearby supernovae suggests space might not be expanding as quickly as it once was, a tantalising hint that the source of dark energy may be more exotic than we thought.

For more than a decade, astrophysicists have grappled with evidence of a baffling force that seems to be pushing the universe apart at an ever-increasing rate. Exactly what constitutes the dark energy responsible for this cosmic speed-up is unknown, says Michael Turner at the University of Chicago. "The simplest question we can ask is 'does the dark energy change with time?'"

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  • Public Discussion (5)
PureScience

Astronomers must correct for the dimming effect of dust and other subtleties in order to estimate a supernova's true peak brightness. But the team may have overcompensated in this correction.

I think the most pertinent question is, "Does dark energy originate from sparse data-sets that have been corrected for variables that are best guesstimates in and of themselves?"

  • 6 votes
Reply#1 - Thu Apr 9, 2009 10:12 PM EDT
iconoclasm

According to Dvali's calculations, such a modification of gravity would explain the acceleration of the universe's expansion. It would also alter the moon's orbit by about a millimetre away from the expectations of general relativity. A team of astronomers from Harvard University and the University of Washington in Seattle are planning to attempt this measurement using the mirrors left behind on the lunar surface by the Apollo astronauts.

This was buried in one of the links off the article.

I could just see this.

Tell me about your college experience?

We tried to make sure the moon was exactly where it should be.

....

But really isn't that going to be (or has been I didn't look) difficult since the moon is still "ringing"/"shaking" from a comet hit 1000 years ago?

  • 5 votes
#1.1 - Thu Apr 9, 2009 10:50 PM EDT
Peter Merel

Geez, keep up won't you? Everyone knows the dark energy is generated by the decay of dark epicycles into wtfons when they collide with a kind of holographic super-spandex. Generated by 12th dimensional polaritons.

Oops, that was the theory last Tuesday. Since I haven't bought the latest edition of New Scientist I can't possibly know what metaphor the universe is really made of this week.

The one thing I feel really certain about is it won't be made of it next week.

  • 5 votes
#1.2 - Thu Apr 9, 2009 11:37 PM EDT
Reply
Atsidi

Entropy and atrophy. If those two forces are not at work then the dark matter would have to be self renewing somehow.

  • 4 votes
Reply#2 - Fri Apr 10, 2009 1:15 AM EDT
J(ustice)L(iberty)

awesome post

interesting read

dark matter is always eluding me or is it all around me

  • 2 votes
Reply#3 - Fri Apr 17, 2009 8:36 PM EDT
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