Collaborate Disseminate
The universe is expanding, and that expansion is accelerating. But what is causing that to happen? The leading hypothesis is a repellent force that astrophysicists refer to as “dark energy,” which pushes everything away from everything else. So how doe… Continue reading Dark energy: The eerie force accelerating the expansion of the universe
The expansion of the universe is accelerating, but we’re not really sure why. The current best models give the driving force the placeholder name of “dark energy” – but that might not even exist. A new study has found that if dark matter had some unusu… Continue reading “Magnetic” dark matter may be accelerating the universe’s expansion
On a scale that’s hard to fathom, the universe is made up of a “cosmic web” of hydrogen filaments that feed and form galaxies. Now, astronomers have made the first direct observations of light from this web, by staring at a patch of sky with a powerful… Continue reading Glow of “cosmic web” filaments directly imaged for the first time
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) has announced a new addition to NASA’s upcoming moon-shot Artemis program. From the silent skies on the far side of the Moon, the DAPPER spacecraft will listen out for radio signals from the “Dark Ages” o… Continue reading Lunar orbiter to listen for radio signals from cosmic “Dark Ages”
The universe is expanding, and that expansion is accelerating, but exactly why and how that’s happening remains unknown. One hypothesis suggests that this expansion is driven by mysterious, black hole-like objects made of dark energy, and now astrophys… Continue reading Exotic objects made of dark energy could be pushing the universe apart
The universe may have started with a Big Bang, but it will most likely end in an utterly anticlimactic way, slowly fading to black over trillions and trillions of years. Now, a theoretical physicist at Illinois State University has calculated what migh… Continue reading Black dwarf supernovae might be the last event in the universe
Astronomers have spotted a galaxy with a structure similar to the Milky Way. That’s not particularly surprising in itself – our home galaxy is quite run-of-the-mill – but the weird thing is that this one is 12 billion light-years away, meaning it’s ver… Continue reading Advanced galaxy far, far away raises questions about cosmic evolution
The universe likes to play coy about its age, but astronomers believe they have a pretty good idea of the range. Now, a series of new studies has investigated the question using different methods – and they’ve come up with two different answers, separa… Continue reading How old is the universe? New studies disagree by a billion years
A 20-year study of the night sky has allowed astronomers to produce a comprehensive 3D map of the universe, covering 11 billion years of expansion. A new analysis of this map has highlighted a mismatch in the Hubble Constant, and revealed when the expa… Continue reading Comprehensive 3D map of the universe fills 11-billion-year gap
This is the result of a 20-year collaboration of several hundred scientists from around 30 different institutions worldwide. Continue reading Astrophysicists Have Made the Largest-Ever 3D Map of the Universe