Dark Energy: The Mystery of This Millennium

Because the matter had more particles then the antimatter, there was a little residue left over. It was this leftover debris that created the galaxies, the stars, the planets, and even you and me. At this point the Universe was one second old, and it began fusing lighter elements like helium. This nuclear activity only lasted a few minutes, but it is one of the reasons the Universe has an abundance of light elements. The Universe continued to grow and cool, later fusing the heavier elements and then what we see around us today.

It is only a possibility that dark matter exists ... ... middle of paper ... ...ity, strange energy-fluid that filled in space, and that Einstein’s theory of gravity could be wrong and a new theory could be found about the cosmic acceleration. Dark energy effects space and time. Dark energy overcomes gravity. In the 1990s, astrophysicists examined distant supernovae to calculate the deceleration of the universe. These astrophysicists were surprised by the results of actually seeing that the universe is accelerating.

It is not yet possible to give a definitive answer to the questions: what was the Big Bang and why did it happen? However, there has been a great deal of speculation recently on this subject, and it may not be long before a definitive, or almost definitive, answer will be declared. For the moment we will simply take the Big Bang as it is given, a huge explosion in which time and space began expanding. It is important to realize that space itself originated in the Big Bang. IT is tempting to think of the universe before the Big Bang as being a vast, infinite, expanse of empty space, like the space between the galaxy clusters today.

In 2013 a team of astronomers discovered a new planet eleven times more massive than Jupiter and 650 astronomical units from it’s star. It’s relatively new, only 13 million years old, and still glows from leftover heat from it’s formation. This planet defies many of the limitations scientists know about star and planet formation. It’s too far away from it’s star to have been formed by gathering asteroid-like bodies from the creation of the star or to be made of dust and gas clouds in the primordial disk. Astronomers also considered the idea that it might be a failed start formed during binary star formation however the mass ratio of the planet and it’s star is too different for that to be likely either.

Scientists theorize that this is dark matter. Scientists think that there is a ring around the Milky Way that may be as much as ten times as big as the outer ring of the galaxy itself. This effect is also seen in different galaxies. Also, in clusters of galaxies, the power of gravity is a lot stronger than it’s mass should suggest. The effects of dark energy were first seen in the 1990’s when scientists were watching IA supernovae.

They die away more sharply than Type one. Type two supernovas are not observed to occur in elliptical galaxies, and are thought to occur in population one type stars in the spiral arms of galaxies. Type one supernovas occur typically occur in elliptical galaxies, so they are probably Population type two stars. With the observation of a number of supernovas in other galaxies a more refined classification of supernovas has been developed based on the observed spectra. Th... ... middle of paper ... ...y result from short-lived massive stars.

This second of arc is the angular size of a pinhead that is 183 m away (wow, now thats precise, you would think). Many of the fainter stars almost seem to not move at all though because they are so far away and thats why we use them as reference stars to measure others and scientists call this proper motion. A Parallex is another apparent m... ... middle of paper ... ...rs of a fraction of a second. Its neutrinos send a shockwave out blasting most of the stars materials into space, but many of the elements get caught up in neutrinos and combine to create heavier elements. Without supernovae there would be no heavier elements than Iron-56.

Many astronomers who are against the existence of dark energy think that the big bang is responsible for the expansion of the universe. From the overall data collected, the existence for dark matter and dark energy is very strong. Reasons for Existence: Concrete evidence that proves that dark matter exists is revealed in the rotational curve in galaxies. Astronomers use the rotational curve of a galaxy to plot how fast a star is moving depending on how far away it is from the galactic center of a galaxy. In an article about dark matter from National Geographic it summarizes how in the early 1970’s a young astronomer by the name of Vera Rubin discovered that “the curve stayed flat out to the limits of what could be measured- the stars kept moving at the same speed no matter how far they were from the galactic center” (Trefil, 2014, p. 88).

A star collapses when the outward push of the combustion reaction no longer has the required forces compete with the inward pull of gravity. Most astronomers believe that the Milky Way contains millions of theses invisible devils, which are massive stars that have collapsed. In theory, anything could become a black hole if it were simply compressed into its Schwarzschild radius. For instance, Mount Everest has a Schwarzschild radius that is less than a nanometer, but there is “no known way to compress an object like Mount Everest into it’s Schwarzschild radius,” (Vsauce 1:05). Black holes also have a radius that is referred to as the event radius.

In their later stages, protostars emit more visible light, but images taken with visible light telescopes have a difficult time seeing past the large masses of dust around stars, if the stars aren’t very bright. (http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu) Stars the size of our sun are estimated to mature within a period of about 50 million years, this is from initial cloud collapse, to adulthood. Our sun should stay in this mature phase for about 10 billion years, and it is estimated that the sun is at the middle of its lifetime. Stars are given life from nuclear fusions of hydrogen; forming helium deep within them. The energy moves outward, giving the entity enough resistance to the pressure of collapsing under its own weight, and making it shine.