May the Dark Force be with you!
Mysterious energy indeed!
Dark energy is not so called as some sort of Underworld thing. The name of this energy means that like the boy in that brilliant Passat video also top astrophysicists are somewhat in the dark about what is causing the lights blink.
What force?
Let us suppose that a boy jumps bravely from a board. But alas! Instead of splashing loudly to the swimming pool below he keeps flying upwards with accelerating speed and gravity is not slowing his flight or bringing him back down to Earth as it should... Surely not a nice nor natural experience to the boy and we are in dark about the reason for such flight.
Scientists have been discussing dark energy since 1990's as enough evidence had been gathered about a dark force causing Cosmic Big Bang jump board. The speed of galaxy cluster formation and patterns observed in galaxies (baryon acoustic oscillation) defy the known laws of gravity.
Should Mr Einstein's general theory of relativity be modified by adding exceptions, a bit like Ptolemaic planetary explanations, to explain the oddities. Or is there a simpler answer, an unknown force that causes the observed phenomena and kind of flattens the space?
BBC Science reporter Paul Rincon tells in today's news about soon to be published results of the WiggleZ project that began in 2006. More than 200.000 galaxies were studied by two telescopes in NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer (Galex)and Australian Siding Spring Observatory (home). Recently, also instruments in space have been used to study dark force and gravity, the Gravity B probe and the new AMS 2 spectormeter carried by Space Shuttle Endeavour to be installed in the International Space Station (ISS).
Quote "To explain why the expansion of the Universe was speeding up, astronomers had to either rewrite Albert Einstein's theory of gravity or accept that the cosmos was filled with a novel type of energy.
"The action of dark energy is as if you threw a ball up in the air, and it kept speeding upward into the sky faster and faster," said co-author Dr Chris Blake of the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia.
"The results tell us that dark energy is a cosmological constant, as Einstein proposed. If gravity were the culprit, then we wouldn't be seeing these constant effects of dark energy throughout time." End of quote
BBC Science news
THE TRUTH IN NOT KNOWING EVERYTHING
From a Theologian's point of view science teaches something very essential about the truth. We do not know everything! By honestly confessing our ignorance of even most central matters, such as our understanding of the creation of the cosmos or our faith in God Almighty, we are truthful. This gives us a healthy dose of humility in front of the majesty of God of Israel.
This is how modern scientists follow in the footsteps of Sir Isaac Newton, who was in his own words quite an ignoramus despite of all the knowledge and understanding of Nature he had gained, including the calculated force of gravity.
Quote While dark energy makes up about 74% of the Universe, dark matter - which does not reflect or emit detectable light - accounts for 22%. Ordinary matter - gas, stars, planets and galaxies - makes up just 4% of the cosmos.
However, despite scientists being able to infer the existence of dark energy and dark matter, these phenomena still elude a full explanation.
The professor of astrophysics at Portsmouth University, UK, added: "It's re-confirmation of dark energy, it gives us another data point to fit our theories around and it shows us the way to the future. More astronomers are going to be doing this in years to come."End of quote
BBC Science news
Siding Spring Observatory, Australia (wikipedia)
Well!
Let us all take a pause and think the fact that seems to diminish the materialistic point of view that matter is all that matters: "Ordinary matter - gas, stars, planets and galaxies - makes up just 4% of the cosmos."
There definitely are other forces out there besides visible light and matter!
Energy and matter... e=mc2
Albert Einstein certainly understood the KISS principle long before it was formulated by the nerds and refined by Zen Python!
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News get around at great speed these days ... take a look at this video from newsy.com!
http://www.newsy.com/videos/
"Newsy.com uses multiple sources to analyze and synthesize news coverage for their
viewers. They present their videos online and on mobile platforms."
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