Science a GoGo's Home Page Forums General Discussion Physics Forum Still new, Not ready for wide acceptance

A report on Phys.Org discusses a paper that claims to have found a difference in type 1A supernovae. They have found 2 populations of 1A supernovae. The ones closer to us appear to be different from the ones far away. If they really are different then that could affect the rate of acceleration of the expansion of the universe. If the report is right then the acceleration may be lower than currently believed. That could change the amount of dark energy in the universe.

Off the top of my head the biggest problem that I see with the report is the question of why the closer ones would be different from the further ones. What would have changed between the time of the distant supernovae and the time of the more recent ones? I'm not familiar with how they work, but I shouldn't think that there would be any great difference between the make up of the universe back then and now. Of course that does depend to some extent on when 'back then' was. The percentage of various elements in the universe has changed over time, based mostly on supernovae.

Bill Gill

And as if on cue Ethan Siegel has the answer in his Starts With a Bang Blog. He points out that there are other indicators of dark energy. In fact if there is a small slow down in the rate of acceleration it may bring the different predictions into closer correspondence. So if the calibration of the supernovas is wrong it isn't a disaster and may be a good thing.

Bill Gill

Bill he is saying the cosmological model might be slightly wrong that is Heresy. Get that thing back in the box now

I have no idea what your statement means.

Bye Bye
Bill Gill

It was a joke (light hearted mirth) which by your response I think you got.

You need to loosen up and chill out a bit .... anyhow bye bye