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Galaxy Clusters' Stunted Growth Confirms Dark Energy

Posted by kdawson on from the glimmer-of-fur dept.

A new study of 86 galaxy clusters in the early universe has provided independent confirmation of the existence of dark energy. In its absence, gravity's pull should have caused the number of clusters to increase by a factor of 50 over the last 5.5 billion years. What is observed is a factor of 10 increase. "Together with earlier observations... the new data strengthen the suspicion — but do not prove — that dark energy is a weird antigravity called the cosmological constant that was hypothesized and then abandoned by Albert Einstein as a 'blunder' almost a century ago. If that is true, the universe is fated to empty itself out eventually, and all but the Milky Way's closest neighbors will eventually be out of sight. ... Adam Riess of Johns Hopkins and the Space Telescope Science Institute, said: 'If this was a fox hunt and dark energy was the fox, I think they have closed off another escape route. But there is still a lot of terrain left for the fox, and we've seen little more than a glimmer of fur.'"

14 of 167 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Misleading Slashdot title by LS · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Misleading Slashdot title

    you're new around here, aren't you...

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    There is a fine line between being a cultivated citizen and being someone else's crop. - A. J. Patrick Liszkie
  2. Re:Article Confirms kdawson Doesn't Read Articles by dsanfte · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    tagged !confirmed. Btw, is there a more general tag for headline hyping?

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    occultae nullus est respectus musicae - originally a Greek proverb
  3. Re:Fox Hunt? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Haha, come on mod's that's kinda funny.

    I tagged this stupidanalogy

  4. Re:Misleading Slashdot title by floodo1 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Yeah, he came over here from Digg! /buh-dum-ching

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    I KUT J00 M4NG!!!
  5. Re:Article Confirms kdawson Doesn't Read Articles by Manuel+M · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    tagged !confirmed. Btw, is there a more general tag for headline hyping?

    badheadline is even more general than that, and I think it's quite appropriate.

  6. Re:Logic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Only on Slashdot will the first post be modded redundant.

  7. Re:Logic by Snaller · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    That comment is ample proof that the wrong people are allowed to moderate here.

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    If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
  8. Re:Logic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Ore wo dare da to omotte yagaru!

  9. Yuo Fa1l It? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Wasn't on Steve's 4osts. Therefore 4chieve any of the for the record, I

  10. Re:Logic by StarfishOne · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    No, I nearly died choking on my lunch when I read your reply. ;O

  11. Re:Article Confirms kdawson Doesn't Read Articles by C0vardeAn0nim0 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    global warmin is real. the CAUSE of global warming is debatable.

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    What ? Me, worry ?
  12. Re:Logic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Except that this reference was to the good one.

  13. Re:Logic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Here! Here!

  14. Animated series? by berend+botje · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    The good one? You mean the animated series? 'cause everything later, and certainly those three live action movies, sucked rocks.