News Cosmology

Einstein’s gravity endures despite a dark energy puzzle

An analysis upholds general relativity but hints dark energy may vary over time 

A telescope instrument is pointed at a starry sky.

Scientists mapped galaxies with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument at the Mayall telescope (shown) at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona.

T. Slovinský, KPNO/AURA/NSF, NOIRLab

By Emily Conover

Scientists could be wrong about dark energy. But they’re right about gravity, a new study suggests.

Dark energy, the mysterious phenomenon that causes the expansion of the cosmos to accelerate, is widely thought to have had a constant density throughout the history of the universe.