Dark forces of the Universe

Get your FREE account with AlertPay

This image shows the galaxy cluster Abell 1689, with the mass distribution of the gravitational lens overlaid (in purple). The mass in this lens is made up partly of normal (baryonic) matter and partly of dark matter. Distorted galaxies are clearly visible around the edges of the gravitational lens. The appearance of these distorted galaxies depends on the distribution of matter in the lens and on the relative geometry of the lens and the distant galaxies, as well as on the effect of dark energy on the geometry of the universe.Dark energy is a cosmic phenomenon that mysteriously powers the accelerating expansion of the Universe. Discovered as early as early as 1998, this strange force, though invisible, makes up a staggering 72 per cent of our known Universe! Of the rest, 24 per cent is made up of �dark matter�, which is also invisible but can be detected by its gravitational pull. And as for the rest of the Universe, a measly 4 per cent is actually made up of �the stuff that makes up people, planets, stars and everything that are made up of atoms�. Scientists strongly believe that the pressure exerted by this dark energy is exactly what that pushes the Universe to expand at an ever-increasing rate. And a recent finding by an international team of astronomers, with the aid of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and European Space Agencies Very Large Telescope, concludes that, it is very likely that our Universe will expand forever. Led by Prof. Eric Jullo of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, the study findings, the details of which have been published in the August 20 issue of the journal Science, also conclude that not only the Universe will not stop growing but also eventually it would become a dead and cold wasteland with a temperature that is scientifically referred as