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The local geometry of the universe is determined by whether the relative density Ω is less than, equal to or greater than 1. From top to bottom: a spherical universe with greater than critical density (Ω>1, k>0); a hyperbolic, underdense universe (Ω<1, k<0); and a flat universe with exactly the critical density (Ω=1, k=0). The spacetime of ...
The density parameter is the average density of the universe divided by the critical energy density, that is, the mass energy needed for a universe to be flat. Put another way, If Ω = 1, the universe is flat. If Ω > 1, there is positive curvature. If Ω < 1, there is negative curvature.
For the shape of the universe to be flat, the mass–energy density of the universe must be equal to the critical density. The total amount of matter in the universe (including baryons and dark matter ), as measured from the cosmic microwave background spectrum, accounts for only about 30% of the critical density.
In general, dark energy is a catch-all term for any hypothesized field with negative pressure, usually with a density that changes as the universe expands. Some cosmologists are studying whether dark energy which varies in time (due to a portion of it being caused by a scalar field in the early universe) can solve the crisis in cosmology. [7]
The fraction of the total energy density of our (flat or almost flat) universe that is dark energy, , is estimated to be 0.669 ± 0.038 based on the 2018 Dark Energy Survey results using Type Ia supernovae [8] or 0.6847 ± 0.0073 based on the 2018 release of Planck satellite data, or more than 68.3 % (2018 estimate) of the mass–energy density ...
Astronomers have discovered what may be the brightest object in the universe, a quasar with a black hole at its heart growing so fast that it swallows the equivalent of a sun a day. The black hole ...
Illustration of the observable universe, centered on the Sun. The distance scale is logarithmic. Due to the finite speed of light, we see more distant parts of the universe at earlier times. Due to the finite speed of light, there is a limit (known as the particle horizon) to how far light can travel over the age of the universe.
The observable universe is a spherical region of the universe consisting of all matter that can be observed from Earth or its space-based telescopes and exploratory probes at the present time; the electromagnetic radiation from these objects has had time to reach the Solar System and Earth since the beginning of the cosmological expansion.