Dark Energy Variations May Unlock Cosmic Mysteries

Dark energy seems to make up abut 70% of the universe, but it’s also a scientific mystery. Find out how new discoveries from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) may help explain our universe’s history and future.

As the week of the total solar eclipse in this part of the world winds down, I’m reminded of the eerie but sublime darkness and sudden cold we experienced that afternoon.

The dark and stargazing tend to go together, even when the Sun is involved. For example, researchers using the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) released the largest and most precise survey of our Universe’s history ever conducted this week.

Dark energy is a relatively recent idea, and it’s a puzzle. At the beginning of the 20th century, most cosmologists, including Einstein, believed that the universe was constant and unchanging.

Hubble Discovered the Universe’s Expansion