Dark energy confirmed by alternative methods

[tblaxland]

Dark energy, given credibility in the 1990's by the study of Type 1a supernovas, has been confirmed by two other methods in an Australian galaxy survey.

Dark energy is real

A survey of more than 200,000 galaxies led by Australian astronomers has shown that ‘dark energy’ is real and not a mistake in Einstein’s theory of gravity.
...
Using the Anglo-Australian Telescope, 26 astronomers contributed to the ‘WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey’ which mapped the distribution of galaxies over an unprecedented volume of the Universe. Because light takes so long to reach Earth, it was the equivalent of looking seven billion years back in time – more than half way back to the Big Bang.
...
WiggleZ used two other kinds of observations to provide an independent check on the supernovae results. One measured the pattern of how galaxies are distributed in space and the other measured how quickly clusters of galaxies formed over time.
...
The WiggleZ observations were possible due to a powerful spectrograph located at the Anglo-Australian Telescope. The spectrograph was able to image 392 galaxies an hour, despite the galaxies being located halfway to the edge of the observable Universe.

Only in Australia would we name a science experiment after four guys in coloured skivvies :lol:

 

[Notebook]

BBC has a page too:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13462926

WiggleZ, similar to this lot?

WARNING: Some may find this offensive.




[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUKaIN9IFgo&feature=related[/ame]

N.

 

[jedidia]

I didn't quite follow that article... it sounds like the conclusion would be "yes, the universe expands at an increasing rate, therefore dark energy must exist", but they never really state it. They only say that they confirmed that it exists, not how, but based on the observational method I assume they measured the expansion rate. Or am I not geting something here?

 

[Notebook]

From the BBC article.

Scientists used two separate kinds of observation to provide an independent check on previous dark energy results.

However, despite scientists being able to infer the existence of dark energy and dark matter, these phenomena still elude a full explanation.

Looks like still a lot of work to be done?

N.

 

[Artlav]

Not a theory confirmed, but observations of acceleration rate confirmed, right?

 

[agentgonzo]

Not a theory confirmed, but observations of acceleration rate confirmed, right?

Correct. From the headlines when I read it, I assumed that they had some more understanding of it, which they don't.

 

[tblaxland]

That is my understanding of it too, ie, confirming the Type 1a supernova survey results by independent means:

WiggleZ used two other kinds of observations to provide an independent check on the supernovae results. One measured the pattern of how galaxies are distributed in space and the other measured how quickly clusters of galaxies formed over time.

It doesn't shine any more light on the nature of dark energy AFAIK (pardon the pun).