The discovery of dark energy was one of the biggest surprises in astronomy. Instead of a nice, predictable expanding Universe, acted on only by gravity, astronomers turned up a mysterious repulsive force accelerating the expansion of the Universe. Fraser and Pamela explain
the evidence for a dark energy, and a few possible theories for what could be providing this repulsive force.
Our Hosts
Fraser Cain
Universe Today
Dr. Pamela Gay
CosmoQuest
Production by
- Richard Drumm, Audio Engineer
- Ally Pelphrey, Video Engineer
17 Seasons
700+ Episodes
2018 Winner Parsec Award
iPod Issues Fix
Several of you have reported problems getting your iPods to play our show and other podcasts. Unfortunately, the latest version of iTunes has some new features that are making iPods behave oddly when they try to play podcasts that aren’t in stereo. To fix this problem, go into the Settings menu of your iPod and set EQ to off. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Ep. 10: Measuring Distance in the Universe
You hear distances all the time in astronomy. This star is 10 light-years away; that galaxy is 50 million light-years away; that Big Bang over there happened 13.7 billion years ago. But how did astronomers actually figure out how far away everything is? It’s not a single measuring stick. Instead, astronomers have built up a series of overlapping measuring tools (yes, we’re calling supernovae and variable stars “tools”), which take us from right around the corner to very ends of the Universe. Get out your ruler… no, the bigger one… never mind… just listen.
Ep. 9: Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity
It’s all relative. How many times have you heard that? Well, when you’re traveling close to the speed of light, everything really is relative; especially the passage of time. This week, Fraser and Pamela give you the skinny on Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity. After listening to a few thought experiments, you too should be able to wrap your head around this amazing theory.
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