How An Underfunded Team Of Spanish Astronomers Could Help Solve The Mystery Of Dark Energy
Looking Back Astronomers hunt for dark energy by comparing the universe now to how it was soon after the big bang. Gary S. Chapman/Getty ImagesFor less than $10 million, the team is trying to figure out one of the greatest mysteries in astronomy Since 1998, when astronomers discovered that a mysterious force known as dark energy is blowing the universe apart, scientists have launched at least a dozen multimillion-dollar projects to figure out what, exactly, dark energy is. These range from the $71-million BigBOSS project to the $900-million Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, which is scheduled to see first light in 2019. But in an era of shrinking research funding, the advantage might go to scientists who can work on a shoestring budget-people such as Basque cosmologist Narciso "Txitxo" Benítez, who says he can scoop every one of those projects for less than $10 million. Benítez is a cosmologist at the Institute...