Why is the Universe expanding faster now than in the past?
Quick Answer
Observations show that cosmic expansion is accelerating, likely because of dark energy, a mysterious component that makes up about 68% of the Universe. Its effect becomes more important as space itself expands.
The Full Story
In the late 1990s, observations of distant Type Ia supernovae showed that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating rather than slowing down. The simplest explanation is dark energy, often modeled as a property of space itself. As matter becomes more diluted over time, dark energy dominates the large-scale behavior of the cosmos. Measurements from missions such as the Hubble Space Telescope and the Planck satellite support this picture.
Key Facts
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