The Power of the Dark Side
What’s going on in the Universe?
In the mid 20th Century, astronomers got a shock when they discovered that
most of the matter in the Universe is dark, and cannot be seen. In 1998 that
shock was magnified when astronomers, almost by accident, confirmed their
suspicions and those of Albert Einstein, that the Universe is pervaded not
only by dark matter but also by dark
energy. This mysterious energy fills the Universe, and profoundly affects
its fate, yet we know next to nothing about it.
But not for long. The Dark Universe Observatory (DUO) is a Small
Explorer Class (SMEX) NASA
mission which will probe the 95% of the Universe that up to now has remained
mysterious and unknown. Studying dark matter and energy directly is impossible
with our current technology, so DUO will do the next best thing: seek clues
to their presence and nature by examining their effect on “normal” matter.
DUO will examine X-rays from the hot gas that
exists within clusters of galaxies – the largest stable structures in the
Universe—and seek the footprint of dark matter and energy.
