NEW CLUES ABOUT THE NATURE OF DARK ENERGY: EINSTEIN MAY HAVE BEENRIGHT AFTER ALL (STScI-PR04-12)

FOR RELEASE: 12:00 p.m. (EST) February 20, 2004

CONTACT:
Don Savage
NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC
(Phone: 202-358-1547; E-mail: )

Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD
(Phone: 410-338-4514; E-mail: )

Adam Riess
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD
(Phone: 410-338-4509; E-mail: )

PRESS RELEASE NO.: STScI-PR04-12

NEW CLUES ABOUT THE NATURE OF DARK ENERGY:
EINSTEIN MAY HAVE BEEN RIGHT AFTER ALL

The good news from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is that Einstein was
right--maybe. A strange form of energy called "dark energy" is looking a
little more like the repulsive force that Einstein theorized in an
attempt to balance the universe against its own gravity. Even if
Einstein turns out to be wrong, the universe's dark energy probably
won't destroy the universe any sooner than about 30 billion years from
now, say Hubble researchers. The determination of the properties
of dark energy has become the key goal of astronomy and physics today.

To read and see more, please visit:
http://hubblesite.org/news/2004/12

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MD. The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation
between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA).

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