Rumors of a Strange Universe
Explanation:
In a
meeting in California two weeks ago, unpublished
results were presented indicating that
most of the energy in our universe is not in stars or galaxies but
is tied to space itself.
In the language of cosmologists, a large
cosmological constant is directly implied by new distant
supernovae observations.
Suggestions of a cosmological constant (lambda) are
not new -- they have existed since the advent of
modern relativistic cosmology. Such claims are
not usually popular with astronomers, though,
because lambda is so unlike known universe components,
because
lambda's value appears limited by observations,
and because less-strange cosmologies without lambda
have historically done well in explaining the data.
Therefore most lamdba claims do not make the News Summary in a
prestigious journal like
Science.
What is noteworthy here is the seemingly direct
and reliable method of the observations,
and the good reputations of the
scientists conducting the investigation. The
above picture of a supernova at redshift 0.5 in a
spiral galaxy, was taken
by this collaboration.
However,
two teams of scientists are
independently studying
distant supernovae,
and the last official word from the
other team was a
result consistent with no cosmological constant,
reported just two months ago.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence,
and so cosmologists the world over eagerly await
peer-reviewed results, further details, and more data.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
