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| We are such stuff as dreams are made of |
"... the Universe is not only queerer than we suppose; but it is queerer than we can suppose"
... J.B.S. Haldane, geneticist and evolutionary biologist (1892-1964)
Apparently more than we can know. In recent years astrophysicists have become increasingly convinced that there is a vast amount of material in the universe that is not matter as we know it. It does not glow at all. This mysterious so-called "dark matter" is believed to be the most common stuff in the universe
The universe is not only expanding, but its expansion is actually accelerating – going faster and faster. So there had to be some other force that had overcome the force of gravity and is driving the universe into an exponential acceleration. This opposing force is what scientists now call dark energy, and it is believed to constitute roughly 74 percent of the universe. The other constituents of the universe are dark matter, which composes about 22 percent of the universe, and ordinary matter, which is about 4 percent.
ReplyDeleteDark energy is completely unexplained by conventional physics. Perhaps this is a manifestation of the 5th dimension from string theory. Or maybe it is a new vacuum energy density that is changing slowly in time. We have no idea, and that is what excites both physicists and astronomers.