Survey gets a grip on dark energy (the BOSS project - Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey)

BBC News ^ | 3/30/12 | Jonathan Amos

[NormsRevenge]

Astronomers have measured the precise distance to over a quarter of a million galaxies to gain new insights into a key period in cosmic history.

The 3D map of the sky allows scientists to probe the time six billion years ago when dark energy became the dominant influence on the Universe's expansion.

No-one knows the true nature of this repulsive force, but the exquisite data in the international BOSS survey will help test various theories.

The analysis appears in six papers.

These have all been posted on the arXiv preprint server.

"This is an incredibly exciting time to be working in cosmology, and we're all privileged to be part of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS)," said Prof Will Percival from the University of Portsmouth - a UK member of the international research group.

"What we've done is measure the 3D positions for just over 250,000 galaxies, covering the largest volume of the Universe ever surveyed. That gives us an amazing map that we can then analyse to try to understand how and why the Universe's expansion is accelerating," he told BBC News.

[Dead Corpse]

By rejecting Christ and thinking they can figure it out on their down...

Sounds like exactly what you are saying. "Don't think.... Just praise Jesus..."

JHVH gave us the intellectual capacity to understand the Universe we live in. Trying to understand everything we are capable of understanding is no sin...