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[permaculture] Pattern observation in astronomy | BBC News - New method 'confirms dark energy'
- From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>
- To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: [permaculture] Pattern observation in astronomy | BBC News - New method 'confirms dark energy'
- Date: Sun, 22 May 2011 10:14:23 -0400
Pattern observation in astronomy |
BBC News - New method 'confirms dark energy'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13462926
"One type of observation used by the astronomers involves measuring a pattern in how galaxies are distributed in space. This pattern is known by the term "baryon acoustic oscillations".
The second type of observation involves measuring how quickly clusters of galaxies have formed over time. Both of these techniques confirmed the existence of dark energy and the acceleration in the expansion of the Universe.
The concept of dark energy was first invoked in the late 1990s by studying the brightness of distant supernovas - exploding stars.
Einstein was right
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."
- [permaculture] Pattern observation in astronomy | BBC News - New method 'confirms dark energy', Lawrence F. London, Jr., 05/22/2011
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