Finally the key to understanding dark energy?

Scientists have known since the 1920s that the universe is expanding, as galaxies move away from each other. Moreover, this movement appears to accelerate despite gravity that would slow down its movement. Universe Therefore it will containwe read on the NASA website, a unified “thing” that resists gravity.

The discovery of this acceleration of expansion, made in the 1990s, gave rise to the concept that dark energy would make up about 68% of the universe. Data collected as part of the project Dark Energy Spectroscopy Instrument (DESI)which has not yet been peer-reviewed, could call into question this idea of ​​a fixed nature, We summarize in Smithsonian Magazine.

Thanks to 5,000 robots attached to the telescope Nicholas U. Mayall Located in Arizona, 100,000 galaxies have been observed every night since 2021, in order to produce the largest 3D map of the universe ever. This mapping made it possible to determine the distribution of galaxies and measure the expansion rate of the universe using the luminosity of supernovas. However, it was shown that the value obtained changed depending on which supernova was chosen for the calculation. According to the scientists responsible for the project, this may mean that dark energy is variable rather than constant.

But these results are not enough to convince all experts and reach a certain conclusion that the current model of the expansion of the universe is inaccurate. But if further analyzes confirm these observations, an important part of our understanding of cosmology will change. Researchers note since last week in Various media.