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Dark energy

Adapted from Wikipedia · Explorer experience

An illustration showing the expansion of the universe and how space grows over time.

What Is Dark Energy?

Dark energy is a special kind of energy that helps the universe grow bigger and bigger. It is very mysterious because we cannot see it or touch it. Scientists think it is very important because it makes up most of the universe.

How Do We Know About Dark Energy?

Scientists learned about dark energy by watching very bright stars called Type Ia supernovae. These stars helped them measure how far away other stars and galaxies are. They found that the universe is growing faster than they thought before. This discovery was very exciting and helped scientists learn more about dark energy.

Why Is Dark Energy Important?

Dark energy is important because it makes up about 68% of everything in the universe. It is much more than dark matter, which is about 27%, and ordinary matter, which is only 5%. Even though dark energy is very weak, it has a big effect on how the universe changes over time.

Diagram representing the accelerated expansion of the universe due to dark energy

Scientists are still trying to learn more about dark energy. They have many ideas about what it could be and how it works. Some think it might come from the empty space itself, while others have different theories. Whatever it is, dark energy helps us understand how our universe grows and changes.

Images

This image shows the cosmic microwave background, the oldest light in the universe, mapped by NASA. It helps scientists understand how galaxies formed!
A scientific diagram showing the composition of the universe, including atoms, dark matter, and dark energy, based on data from the WMAP satellite.
A graph showing different scientific models that help scientists understand dark energy in the universe.
A stunning view of Earth rising over the Moon, captured by astronauts during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968.
A colorful display of our solar system's planets — Mercury, Venus, Earth with its Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune — all shown to scale and captured by NASA spacecraft.
An artist's impression of HE 1523-0901, one of the oldest known stars in our galaxy, located about 13.2 billion years ago and 7,500 light-years from Earth.

This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on Dark energy, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Images from Wikimedia Commons. Tap any image to view credits and license.