The Washington Post, among other newspapers is running a story regarding a new finding from the Hubble telescope. Well, kind of new. Einstein postulized that there was some sort of cosmological constant, some sort of energy that kept the Universe from tearing apart or collapsing violently. Science historians generally agree that he wasn’t too serious about it, and possibly even recanted.
The Hubble has recently taken data on various stars that went supernova, and with the recent discovery of “dark energy”, has what seems to be proof that the Universe is expanding at a steady, and relatively calm rate, being held in check from violent collapse or break up. If the data is correct, that means that not only will our future generations need not worry about the universe tumbling in around them, but that they’ll continue to have a larger frontier to explore. Yeehaw space cowboys! Oh, and bonus, this would also mean that the random theories of a rubber-band universe that oscillates between expansion and a big bang are bogus.
Now, as an aside, to me this raises two questions: are Mars and the moon really worth taking the Hubble offline? And what are the chances that this data is a hoax by a group of scientists that are trying to raise a case to keep support of the Hubble going?
Posted Saturday February 21, 2004 in Interesting by Chris Curtis
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All infogarb aside. Who is going to continue to pay for it to run?
By caesar on February 23, 2004 at 06:33pm link
Why is NASA committing more funding to the moon? Honestly what can be done there that will be cheaper and safer than in orbital labs? I think it’s ridiculous to remove the only extraterrestrial light-sensitive telecope that exists from the space program.
By Derek Jones on February 23, 2004 at 06:42pm link
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Answer 1: Yes.
Answer 2: You’re paranoid.
By reedmaniac on February 21, 2004 at 03:42pm link