Earth & Space Science · 1998
Observational Evidence from Supernovae for an Accelerating Universe and a Cosmological Constant
Adam G. Riess, et al. (High-z Supernova Search Team)
Overview
By measuring distant exploding stars, this team found that the expansion of the universe is speeding up, not slowing down. The acceleration implies a mysterious 'dark energy' filling space — one of the great puzzles of modern physics.
Revealed dark energy and cosmic acceleration; won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Key findings
Methods
Type Ia supernovae were used as 'standard candles': their measured brightness gave distances, which were compared with redshifts to trace the expansion history of the universe.
Keywords
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