Question 2: Astronomy in the News

What goes up, must come down. This might seem to be a universal principle of logic, and indeed if you throw your car keys in the air, they will come crashing down to the floor on earth. But nearly a "decade ago, astronomers discovered that what is true for your car keys is not true for the galaxies. Having been impelled apart by the force of the Big Bang, the galaxies, in defiance of cosmic gravity, are picking up speed on a dash toward eternity. If they were keys, they would be shooting for the ceiling" (Overbye, 2008, p1.). According to Dennis Overbye of the New York Times on June 3, 2008, modern astronomers admit they cannot understand why this is true, or the implications for the future of the universe. Scientists call this anti-gravitational pull dark energy, as opposed to dark matter.

Overbye's...
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