LMR-032 · Dark Universe
Dark Energy
Something is pushing space apart faster, and we have no idea what.
§ A first look
§ Depths
Six ways into the same idea — from bedtime story to chalkboard. No order required.
L1 · Crayon
Told like a bedtime story.
For a curious 10-year-old. No jargon. Just a picture in your head.
For a long time we just assumed the universe must be expanding more slowly as time went on — gravity should be putting on the brakes, right? About 25 years ago, two teams sat down with careful measurements and found the opposite. The expansion is actually speeding up. Something we can't see is pushing the universe apart, faster and faster, and it's been at it for billions of years. We have no idea what it is. We gave it a placeholder name — dark energy — then went to lunch. The placeholder has been the name for 25 years. There has been a lot of lunch.
§ Strange but true
- 01Something is pushing the universe apart, faster and faster, and we have no idea what it is.
- 02It makes up 68% of everything. The stuff we understand is a rounding error.
- 03If it keeps winning, distant galaxies will eventually recede faster than light — and vanish from our sky forever.
§ From the field journal
Dark Energy
"Something is pushing space apart faster, and we have no idea what."
— observed, sketched, not yet fully understood.
§ Nearby
Constellations near Dark Energy
→
Dark Matter
Most of the universe is invisible. We only see its footprints.
→
Big Bang
Not an explosion in space. An expansion of space.
→
Redshift
The universe is stretching, and dragging every wavelength of light with it.
→
Entropy
The reason your room gets messier on its own.
→
Heat Death
The universe's quiet, lukewarm forever.
→
Inflation
In 10⁻³² seconds, the universe grew by a factor of 10²⁶.