In the early 1990s, two teams of astronomers set out to measure the makeup of the universe. Dubbed the High-Z Supernova Search Team and the Supernova Cosmology Project, the two teams brought together astronomers from around the world with the goal of mapping the expansion of the universe over its lifetime.
Astronomers expect that the presence of all matter and radiation in the universe will act as a brake on expansion, steadily slowing the expansion as the universe ages. Measuring this lag can reveal all the matter and energy that makes up the universe.
These international collaborations use the world’s most powerful telescopes, such as the 8-meter Keck Telescope in Hawaii and the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope, to scan the sky. Their target is a supernova that acts as a beacon to the distant universe, the brightness of which is measured by us
Telescopes reveal how the universe expands as light travels over billions of years.
But astronomers were shocked. Our Universe isn’t slowing down, it’s speeding up. After double-checking their observations for errors and checking their calculations, they presented their conclusions to a shocked world. To explain this accelerating expansion, there are other unexpected things in the universe pushing the universe faster and faster.
Even though there must be a lot of this material to have this effect, it’s always there and remains completely invisible to our telescopes. whatever is between the stars
And the galaxy’s expansion speeds up, and it’s really dark.
As 1998 rolled around, we found that even this dark matter was clearly overwhelmed by the newly discovered dark energy. Two gigantic components of the universe, invisible and undetectable for thousands of years. This is the biggest question in cosmology right now. What are these new ingredients of our universe, how do they work and where do they come from?
