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Can we test dark energy using the Solar System? (Synopsis) [Starts With A Bang]
“There are still so many questions to answer. When you look at any part of the universe, you have to feel humbled.” -Saul Perlmutter
Discovered in 1998 from the observation of distant supernovae, dark energy determines the eventual fate of the Universe, leading to a “Big Freeze” scenario, where all the galaxies, groups and clusters that are presently gravitationally unbound from one another will eventually recede away until they’re unreachable.
Image credit: NASA & ESA, via http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo9919k/.
But if dark energy truly permeates all of space as a cosmological constant, it should have effects, albeit small ones, on the Solar System itself. In principle, simply measuring the orbits of the bodies in our Solar System precisely enough should allow us to determine whether dark energy truly is a cosmological constant, and what its effects on the planets are.
Image credit: public domain work by KSmrq, via Wikimedia Commons.
Go read the whole story (and the latest research) over on Forbes!
Source: http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2015/11/18/can-we-test-dark-energy-using-the-solar-system-synopsis/
