Universe

High-Z Supernova Search

Table of Contents
The Expanding Universe
The Fate of the Universe
Supernovae
Type Ia Supernovae
Searching for Distant Type Ia Supernovae
Search Results [1] [2] [3] [4]
Search Conclusions

Data and Discovery

Here we show how much cosmological constant and normal matter there is in the Universe. The darker the color, the more likely a particular combination of the two types of matter is. The numbers are plotted as the greek letter Omega which is the symbol we use to represent the fraction of the Universe made out of matter relative to the amount necessary to make space flat. If Omega = 1 then there is just enough matter to make the Universe flat.

The data indicates that the total amount of normal matter in the Universe is quite small - Omega is less than 1 for normal matter, and the amount of cosmological constant is reasonably large - Omega greater than 0 for the cosmological constant.