Astronomy › Section V · The Big Bang › Topic V.5

What the universe is made of

Independent measurements now agree on an inventory of the universe, and it is a strange one: the atoms that make up stars, planets and people are only about 5% of the total. The rest is dark matter and dark energy, which we can measure but not yet explain.

In this topic

  • The standard model of cosmology
  • The cosmic inventory
  • Where the ordinary matter is
  • Worked example: turning shares into densities
  • Independent lines of evidence
  • Dark energy takes over
  • Worked example: matter versus dark energy at z = 1
  • What is dark energy?
  • The story in order
  • Common mistakes to avoid
  • Key takeaways

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