Expert: Ed - 2/21/2004

Question
What is your opinion of the "dark energy" theory and recent scientific observations that seem to confirm its presence? Is it the universal constant that Einstein postulated? Where did it come from? Feel free to speculate. :)

Answer
Kurt,
Hoo boy, you know how to ask the tough questions...  my short answer to your question is "I have no idea, and neither does anyone else."  Einstein didn't know, Stephen Hawking doesn't know, so to put it mildly, neither do I.  However, there does seem to be increasing evidence that WHATEVER dark energy might be, it apparently exists, it seems to counteract gravity, and therefore it is entirely possible that Einstein's cosmological constant was right on the money.

If you happen to be an Einstein groupie (and who isn't?!?), you might like to bask for a moment in the awareness that the new evidence for dark energy supports Einstein's cosmological constant concept, which he himself went to his grave believeing to be his "greatest blunder."  It looks more and more like he was right after all.  Hey, when ya got it, ya got it!

Having said this, remember that no one has any idea what dark energy is.  We just call it that on the analogy of "dark matter," because it sounds appropriately mysterious.

Look at this link:
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/dark_energy_040220.html

I'm afraid that this is about as helpful as I can be.  If you'd like a cool, online cosmology tutorial, try Ned Wright's webpage, which he runs from UCLA.  He'll probably update it someday soon, with the news about dark energy being largely confirmed.
http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/cosmology_faq.html

I hope this is at least a little helpful.  Keep Looking Up!
-Ed