Survey gets a grip on dark energy

This article focuses on the influence of Dark Energy on the expansion of the Universe. Very little is known about this property of space, but what has been discovered is that the Universe is undergoing an accelerating expansion, contrary to our former belief that the universe was expanding at a decelerating (pardon the incorrect terminology) rate due to gravitational forces. This drastic shift in theory emerged as a result of the realization that space possesses its own energy, dark energy, whose repulsive force is responsible for the increasing rate of expansion that has been observed through two key techniques. One method of analysis involves baryon acoustic-oscillations, which provide a preferred scale for analyzing the separation of galaxies. The second method involves "redshift space distortions", which has thus far provided results consistent with Einsteins theory of general relativity in conjunction with his cosmological constant. As I stated earlier, our understanding of dark energy and its counterpart dark matter is incredibly limited. However, through further experimentation, the mysterious matter that comprises approximately 70% of the Universe, may become a more tangible concept and open up the scientific world to new principles in physics.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17559286

An interesting article although somewhat hard to follow. The universe is expanding all the time and it’s just impossible to fathom how large it really is. Makes you wonder what’s all happening in the universe. Our little galaxy is just the tip of the iceberg so to say. I think it’s really impressive that scientists have been able to measure the distance to over a quarter of a million galaxies. Both of the current theories about acceleration in the universe seem very valid and who knows perhaps both techniques are contributing to the acceleration. And it’s true that we know so little about the universe so hopefully one of the theories they’re exploring will lead to some explanation as to how the dark energy came about. Once they determine how these accelerations work maybe it could lead to figuring out how to slow them down in case problems arise with an ever expanding universe.