The discovery confirms the existence of dark energy (?)
Date: Monday, August 25, 2008 @ 22:19:45 UTC
Topic: Science
XMM-Newton's massive discovery
(PhysOrg.com) -- ESA's orbiting X-ray observatory XMM-Newton has
discovered the most massive cluster of galaxies seen in the distant
Universe until now. The galaxy cluster is so big that there can only be
a handful of them at that distance, making this a rare catch indeed.
The discovery confirms the existence of dark energy.
...“Such massive galaxy clusters
are thought to be rare objects in the distant Universe. They can be
used to test cosmological theories,” says Lamer. Indeed, the very
presence of this cluster confirms the existence of a mysterious
component of the Universe called dark energy.
No one knows what dark energy is, but it is causing the expansion
of the Universe to accelerate. This hampers the growth of massive
galaxy clusters in more recent times, indicating that they must have
formed earlier in the Universe. “The existence of the cluster can only
be explained with dark energy,” says Lamer....
Full story: http://www.physorg.com/news138890440.html
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