Dark energy is causing an ‘arrested development’ effect on the universe.

Using NASA’s Chandra x-ray observatory, astronomers have found that dark energy is stifling growth in the universe.

It is the first time scientists have been able to distinguish the singular effect of ‘dark energy’, a form of energy that is believed to dominate the universe, on the most massive collapse objects in the universe. The research offers up the best clues yet about the nature of dark energy.

Dark energy appears to be stunting the growth and development of galaxy clusters.

“The result could be described as ‘arrested development of the universe’,” said Alexey Vikhlinin of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. “Whatever is forcing the expansion of the universe to speed up is also forcing its development to slow down.”

The subject of dark energy has proved difficult for many to understand but it has been compared to the theory of the cosmological constant first proposed by Albert Einstein.

“Putting all of this data together gives us the strongest evidence yet that dark energy is the cosmological constant, or in other words, that ‘nothing weighs something’. A lot more testing is needed, but so far Einstein’s theory is looking as good as ever.”

The results come from a current study that has been running for years involved in investigating hot gas inside galaxy clusters.

The Chandra telescope, named after Indian physicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, is one of four space-based observatories that cover the electromagnetic spectrum and was launched in 1999.

For further information, visit: http://chandra.nasa.gov