It’s looking more and more as if dark energy, the mysterious factor that scientists say is behind the accelerating expansion of the universe, isn’t as constant as they once thought.
The latest findings from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, or DESI, don’t quite yet come up to the level of a confirmed discovery, but they’re leading scientists to rethink their views on the evolution of the universe — and how it might end.
Readings from DESI’s Data Release 2, published on March 19, suggest dark energy’s influence isn’t as strong as it used to be. Scientists had thought that the universe’s endless expansion would eventually lead to a state of cosmic stasis known as the “Big Chill.” But if dark energy fizzles out, billions or trillions of years from now, the universe may fall back on itself and end up in a reverse Big Bang, or “Big Crunch.”
