Dark energy search gets murkier

Supernova measurements muddle scientists’ efforts to explain universe’s accelerating expansion

LOOKING DARKER  Using supernova measurements from the Pan-STARRS PS1 telescope on Maui, researchers calculated a cosmological parameter related to dark energy. If verified, the findings could force cosmologists to develop a new explanation for this energy, which pushes the universe apart.

© PS1SC

New measurements of light from distant supernovas could complicate cosmologists’ already-frustrating attempts to explain the mysterious dark energy that is pushing apart the universe.