Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Mysterious dark energy demystified

 

This illustration shows snapshots from a simulation by Volker Springel, representing the growth of cosmic structure when the universe was 900 million, 3.2 billion and 13.7 billion years old (now). The simulation shows how the universe has evolved from a smooth state to one containing a vast amount of structure. Gas is shown in these snapshots, where the yellow regions are stars and the brightest structures are galaxies and galaxy clusters.Billions of years ago, the universe was crowded with tight-knit clusters of galaxies. Then, a party crasher got the upper hand. This mysterious force now called dark energy has since been expanding the universe at an increasing pace.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Total Pageviews

Popular Posts