According to a study, x-ray measurements of outlying galaxy clusters validate the theory that dark energy is driving the universe to expand immeasurably.
The findings suggest that the dark energy pushes away every matter in the universe, and it will continue pushing them further—or away—until none of the galaxy except the nearest Andromeda galaxy would be observable from planet Earth.
Scientists who conducted the study, have also started to endorse the concept that the dark energy is the alleged cosmologic constant.
The head of the research, Dr. Alexey Vikhlinin of Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Cambridge, MA, says, "Putting all of this data together gives us the strongest evidence [to the claim] that [the] dark energy is the cosmological constant."
Prof. David Spergel, astrophysicist at New Jersey Princeton University who didn’t contribute on the research, also agrees.
"Even nothing--empty space--weighs something, and because we have a lot of nothing, it [made] a major [contribution] in the evolution of our universe and [has] caused space itself to accelerate," Spergel said.
Vikhlinin and his team employed the orbiting Chandra x-ray observatory of NASA to look at the superclusters of galaxy–the collapsed globs that count as the biggest-known objects in the entire universe.
The measurements of these galaxy superclusters indicate that something is decelerating their development.
"The observable universe, in terms of mass, is already shrinking," Spergel said.
The findings suggest that the dark energy pushes away every matter in the universe, and it will continue pushing them further—or away—until none of the galaxy except the nearest Andromeda galaxy would be observable from planet Earth.
Scientists who conducted the study, have also started to endorse the concept that the dark energy is the alleged cosmologic constant.
The head of the research, Dr. Alexey Vikhlinin of Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Cambridge, MA, says, "Putting all of this data together gives us the strongest evidence [to the claim] that [the] dark energy is the cosmological constant."
Prof. David Spergel, astrophysicist at New Jersey Princeton University who didn’t contribute on the research, also agrees.
"Even nothing--empty space--weighs something, and because we have a lot of nothing, it [made] a major [contribution] in the evolution of our universe and [has] caused space itself to accelerate," Spergel said.
Vikhlinin and his team employed the orbiting Chandra x-ray observatory of NASA to look at the superclusters of galaxy–the collapsed globs that count as the biggest-known objects in the entire universe.
The measurements of these galaxy superclusters indicate that something is decelerating their development.
"The observable universe, in terms of mass, is already shrinking," Spergel said.
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