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.
Gravitational lensing often evokes images of a cosmic funhouse mirror: duplicated galaxies, dramatic arcs and distorted shapes. But the web-like, large-scale structure throughout the universe also bends light in a weaker, ...
Astronomy
Mar 13, 2025
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The universe is ballooning outward at an ever-faster clip under the power of an unknown force dubbed dark energy. One of the major goals for NASA's upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is to help astronomers gather ...
Astronomy
Mar 11, 2025
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Astrophysicists have unearthed a surprising diversity in the ways in which white dwarf stars explode in deep space after assessing almost 4,000 such events captured in detail by a next-gen astronomical sky survey. Their findings ...
Astronomy
Feb 14, 2025
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By looking at light from distant exploding stars called supernovas, in 1998 astronomers discovered the universe isn't just expanding—its expansion is speeding up. But what's behind this acceleration?
Astronomy
Jan 8, 2025
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Galaxies are not islands in the cosmos. While globally the universe expands—driven by the mysterious "dark energy"—locally, galaxies cluster through gravitational interactions, forming the cosmic web held together by dark ...
Astronomy
Jan 7, 2025
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One of the biggest mysteries in science—dark energy—doesn't actually exist, according to researchers looking to solve the riddle of how the universe is expanding.
Astronomy
Dec 20, 2024
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New observations from the James Webb Space Telescope suggest that a new feature in the universe—not a flaw in telescope measurements—may be behind the decade-long mystery of why the universe is expanding faster today than ...
Astronomy
Dec 9, 2024
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Distant, ancient galaxies are giving scientists more hints that a mysterious force called dark energy may not be what they thought.
Astronomy
Nov 23, 2024
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Why is the expansion of our universe accelerating? Twenty-five years after its discovery, this phenomenon remains one of the greatest scientific mysteries. Solving it involves testing the fundamental laws of physics, including ...
Astronomy
Nov 11, 2024
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The Physics of the Accelerating Universe Survey (PAUS), an international collaboration across 14 institutions, has covered a sky area of 50 square degrees, similar to approximately 250 full moons.
Astronomy
Sep 28, 2024
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