The accelerating universe as a research area investigates the observed late-time acceleration of cosmic expansion and its implications for fundamental physics and cosmology. It encompasses precise measurements of distance–redshift relations using Type Ia supernovae, baryon acoustic oscillations, and weak gravitational lensing, as well as constraints from cosmic microwave background anisotropies and large-scale structure growth. The field focuses on characterizing dark energy (e.g., cosmological constant, dynamical scalar fields, or modified gravity), determining its equation-of-state parameter and possible evolution, testing general relativity on cosmological scales, and developing theoretical frameworks and numerical simulations to reconcile observational data with models of cosmic expansion history.
For the last five years, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) has been systematically scanning the night sky. Today marks the completion of its first map, which is the largest high-resolution 3D map of the universe ...
Astronomy
Apr 15, 2026
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66
The Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) has discovered tens of thousands of gigantic hydrogen gas halos, called "Lyman-alpha nebulae," surrounding galaxies 10 billion to 12 billion years ago. Known as Cosmic ...
Astronomy
Apr 6, 2026
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When an invisible entity making up 85% of the universe's mass stumps the greatest scientific minds of our time, awe is an understandable response.
General Physics
Mar 29, 2026
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A team of cosmologists in China has introduced a mathematical framework that investigates two of the deepest mysteries in cosmology at the same time. Publishing their research in The Astrophysical Journal, Yun Chen and colleagues ...
When the densest objects in the universe collide and merge, the violence sets off ripples, in the form of gravitational waves, that reverberate across space and time, over hundreds of millions and even billions of years. ...
Astronomy
Mar 5, 2026
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61
Thanks to Fink, a software package created by two CNRS engineers, it is now possible to track millions of transient celestial phenomena observed in the sky by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile, in real time and with ...
Astronomy
Feb 26, 2026
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Dark energy is one of those cosmological features that we are still learning about. While we can't see it directly, we can most famously observe its effects on the universe—primarily how it is causing the expansion of the ...
Astronomy
Feb 17, 2026
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Mark Thomson, the new head of Europe's physics laboratory CERN, voiced confidence Tuesday about raising the billions of dollars needed to build by far the world's biggest particle accelerator.
General Physics
Jan 28, 2026
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As the Dark Energy Survey (DES) releases its final results, we caught up with two physicists who've been involved in the project from its early days. In this Q&A, Josh Frieman, DES co-founder and associate laboratory director ...
Astronomy
Jan 26, 2026
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117
Dark energy is still one of the greatest cosmic mysteries. For all the time, money and telescopes that humanity has used to uncover its nature, scientists are still asking a fundamental question: What is dark energy?
Astronomy
Jan 26, 2026
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