New Clues About the Nature of Dark Energy

Jim Mansfield writes "With the Hubble space telescope no longer being serviced by NASA, it's good to see one of their hardest working and most famous satellites in the news again. According to their press release on the nature of dark energy, Einstein may have been right after all - and even if he turns out to have been wrong, it seems that dark energy is not going 'to cause an end to the universe any time soon' ... whew, that's a relief." See also a space.com story.

Comments

I wouldn't worry

[jeffkjo1]

I wouldn't worry about the Hubble, it will just end up drifting off into space only to return 300 years later as H'ble, the super intelligent sentient telescope of the future, bent on destroying the human race.

Ok, so maybe there is reason to worry....

Re:I wouldn't worry

[DangerSteel]

Is that why we will have to go back in time to get a whale to talk to the evil telescope... no.. wait.... we will have to explain to it why we decided not to repair the telescope and give it an extended life.....dammit, I'm all confused now...

The restaurant at the end of the universe

[dapyx]

..dark energy probably won't destroy the universe any sooner than about 30 billion years from now, say Hubble researchers.

The restaurant at the end of the universe must be really far...

Never underestimate the power of the schwartz!

[mikeophile]

Oh sorry, I thought the headline was New Clues About the Nature of Dark Helmet.

"Now you see that evil will always triumph, because good is dumb!"

- Dark Helmet

Not with a whimper, but a "Big Rip"?

[Anonymous Coward]

"And in the end of days, God shall eat Mexican food and several beers and ye verily shall His mighty thunder rend the Heavens."

Duh!

[UncleBiggims]

I doesn't take an Einstein... oh wait. Nevermind.

Are you Corn Fed?

No, really?

[TheGreatGraySkwid]

From the article:
"Riess' team uses Hubble to find stars that exploded when the universe was about half its present age. A certain type of these supernovas, as they are called, shine with a known brightness."

Supernovas, you say? Wow, what a fascinating new concept for readers of Space.com!

I mean, come on!

Filling the blank?

[cabazorro]

I get the feeling that we are trying to fill
a gap but with what???
Observer: Look at those galaxies..they are moving appart.
Braniac: Yes, that's because the big-bang long long time ago.
Observer: They look very old and they appear to move slower as they drift compared to the young galaxies.
Braniac: Of course, they are loosing momentum. But don't be deceived, at some point all universe is going to loose cohesion and become rippi-bits!
Observer: Howbout that cluster over-there? Those galaxies are quite old and they are driftin faster than the young ones! What gives??
Branica: Er ur..is dark energy pushing them appart, dark energy is spreading the galaxies.
Observer: And the big bang.
Braniac: yes, that too ..explosions and ever
present dark-energy.
Observer: Far out!
Braniac:(scratching her head and punching madly
at her calculator and giving a big sight of
frustration)yeah, riveting.