Mark Voit News Today

Astronomers have completed the largest and most detailed study of what triggers a star birth in the universe’s biggest galaxies, using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes.

“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing.” -Theodore Roosevelt

"Until the 1990s, there were few reliable observations about movement at the scale of the entire universe, which is the only scale dark energy effects. So dark energy could not be seen until we could measure things very, very far away." -Adam Riess

“The mind, once expanded to the dimensions of larger ideas, never returns to its original size.” -Oliver Wendell Holmes But it isn't just your mind that expands as time goes on and you increase your knowledge, but the entire Universe as well. General Relativity, as it turns out, doesn't leave us with much of a choice. If you start with a Universe full of matter and radiation, it's got to expand, otherwise it will collapse in on itself!

“Do you know where to find marble conference tables? I'm looking to have a conference... not until I get the table though” -@kanyewest on Twitter

“Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear but forgetting where you heard it.” -Laurence J. Peter This past week was a super busy one on Starts With A Bang, from dark energy to stars to a fabulous book review and more! Just in the last seven days, we’ve looked at:

Image credit: The Cosmic Perspective / Jeffrey O. Bennett, Megan O. Donahue, Nicholas Schneider and Mark Voit. From Azri -- our original question-asker -- on the topic of how long the Universe has been accelerating: "Just when you mentioned that the universe was almost 7.8 billion years old when started accelerating: I think that calculation is based on a "constant” cosmological constant! what if Dark energy was dynamical !? can one expect more than 8 bill years, lets say almost recently!" I...