dark energy
Universe's expansion driver
Dark energy is the name given to whatever is causing the universe's expansion to accelerate.
Observations in the late 1990s revealed that distant galaxies are flying apart faster than expected—something must be pushing against gravity's pull.
Dark energy accounts for roughly 68% of the universe's total energy content, yet its nature remains unknown.
The term pairs with dark matter, another placeholder for something we detect only through its effects.
Wavelength stretch from recession
- observable universeRegion light has reached us from
- scale factorProportional sizing constant
- distance ladderCalibrated sequence of astronomical measurements
Purest embodiment of something
- big bangLoud explosive noise
- inflationSustained price level increase
- gravitational lensingMass distorting light's path
- heat deathUniverse's final entropic state
Pressure below ambient levels
- general relativityGravity as curved spacetime
- virtual particlesTransient intermediaries in interactions
- antigravityForce opposing downward pull
Not yet discovered
- enigmaSomething hard to fathom
- invisibleCannot be seen
- undetectableImpossible to notice
- elusiveHard to find
unexplained · anomaly · puzzle · unseen · hidden · perplexing · missing piece · scientific frontier
redshift
Wavelength stretch from recession
- observable universeRegion light has reached us from
- scale factorProportional sizing constant
- distance ladderCalibrated sequence of astronomical measurements
quintessence
Purest embodiment of something
- big bangLoud explosive noise
- inflationSustained price level increase
- gravitational lensingMass distorting light's path
negative pressure
Pressure below ambient levels
- general relativityGravity as curved spacetime
- virtual particlesTransient intermediaries in interactions
- antigravityForce opposing downward pull
unknown
Not yet discovered
- enigmaSomething hard to fathom
- invisibleCannot be seen
- undetectableImpossible to notice
elusive · unexplained · anomaly · puzzle · unseen · hidden · perplexing · missing piece · scientific frontier · discovery
- cosmosuniverse, galaxies, galaxy, stars, star
- energyelectricity, power, oil, fuel, gas
- physicsphysics, momentum, atom, acceleration, gravity
- spacespace, sun, moon, stars, star
- scientific phrasesbig bang, black hole, natural selection, climate change, genetic code
- space stuffUFO, alien, meteor, comet, asteroid
dark energygravity
Mutual mass attraction
gravitational collapse · dark matter · matter · deceleration · mass
dark, energy, darkness, energetic, darken, energize, darkened, darkest, energizing