NASA: Mysterious Dark Energy Has Existed for 9 Billion Years

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Dark energy — the mysterious force that makes up 70% of the energy in the universe and is pushing it to expand ever faster — was present in early days of the universe, NASA researchers reported yesterday.

The finding that dark energy was present 9 billion years ago moves back substantially the time when this force, which is thought to act as an opposite to gravity, existed in the universe. It also lends support to one of the most debated theories put forward by Albert Einstein, what the renowned physicist called a “cosmological constant” in the universe that includes a force that works against gravity, creating equilibrium.

The energy that makes up that force, which researchers say is present in every cubic inch of space, is probably the most studied field in physics today.

Although scientists know virtually nothing about it — neither its form nor its nature, or even whether it is permanent or fleeting — they have concluded that it is theoretically necessary to make sense of other information they have about the cosmos. Yesterday’s results were presented as a significant scientific advance.

“Although dark energy accounts for more than 70% of the energy of the universe, we know very little about it, so each clue is precious,” said Adam Riess of the Space Telescope Science Institute and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. In 1998, Mr. Riess led one of the first studies to find the presence of dark energy, and he is the leader of the current Hubble study.

“Our latest clue is that the stuff we call dark energy was relatively weak but starting to make its presence felt 9 billion years ago,” he said. Astrophysicists believe the universe began with the big bang about 13.8 billion years ago.

The new information about dark energy came from four years of observations by the Hubble Space Telescope, which orbits about 350 miles above Earth and has allowed scientists to look deeply into distant galaxies. In particular, the Hubble discovered 23 supernovas, exploding stars whose brightness or faintness can tell astronomers how far away they are.

Based on information from those ancient explosions, scientists were able to determine that the universe at that time was expanding in a way consistent with the presence of dark energy.


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