Just like a minute ago! So up until about 15 years ago, the only answer was momentum. The idea was that the Universe received all the energy it needed for its expansion in the first few moments after the Big Bang. And all the rest of the expansion is the Universe coasting outwards. For the longest time, astronomers were trying to figure out what this momentum would mean for the future of the Universe.
Would the mutual gravity of all the objects in the Universe cause it to slow to a halt at some point in the distant future, or maybe even collapse in on itself, leading to a Big Crunch? In , astronomers discovered something completely unexpected… dark energy. Now it appears that the Universe will not only expand forever, but the speed of its expansion will continue to accelerate faster and faster. And if you like what you see, come check out our Patreon page and find out how you can get these videos early while helping us bring you more great content!
Podcast audio : Download Duration: — 2. Podcast video : Download Duration: — I for one never bought the big bang theory. It seems to me that we need to believe that there is a beginning and an end to everything. Also that our universe and all of space had a beginning, We are expanding and moving as all energy has the potential to push and pull depending on its strength of charge, gravity ,electrons, polarity what have you.
We as humans need to put a distance a time or duration on all that exists. Space has no end and in my mind no beginning.
I for one can not accept that there was once nothing then bang it existed. But in a preprint submitted to Physical Review D in March, Barker and three co-authors acknowledge that much more analysis is needed to see if the model can describe not only how the universe expands but also how structures like galaxies and clusters evolved.
With contemporary telescopes offering a glut of impressively precise data on such structures, devising a theory that matches all the observations is no mean feat. Even with the extra freedom, most of the nonstandard models only reduce the Hubble tension rather than eliminating it. In the coming years, the Euclid telescope and others will meticulously map how gravity and dark energy have shaped cosmic evolution.
Meanwhile, gravitational waves emitted from colliding neutron stars offer a new way to measure the Hubble constant. The new data will rule out some of these novel solutions to the Hubble tension, but new cracks in the standard model may appear.
For now, many cosmologists are loath to complicate the model when it otherwise works so well. She added that even if the Hubble tension turns out to be nothing more than an accumulation of errors, this search for new physics may not be in vain.
And how much can we change things? This article was reprinted on Wired. Get highlights of the most important news delivered to your email inbox. Quanta Magazine moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation.
Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. Moderators are staffed during regular business hours New York time and can only accept comments written in English. We care about your data, and we'd like to use cookies to give you a smooth browsing experience. Please agree and read more about our privacy policy. Read Later. By Thomas Lewton April 27, Physicists have proposed extra cosmic ingredients that could explain the faster-than-expected expansion of space.
These are some of the top ideas for what could be speeding up cosmic expansion. Decaying Dark Matter The standard model of cosmology incorporates all the familiar forms of matter and radiation and their interactions. The Quanta Newsletter Get highlights of the most important news delivered to your email inbox.
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