On Nov. 8 at 7 p.m., Ron Smith will give a lecture about dark energy and dark matter at the Lorraine Boccardo Theatre in Kayenta. A retired astronomy professor and planetarium lecturer, Smith will tell the story of how astronomers feel confident that the universe mainly consists of matter we cannot see and energy we cannot directly observe.
All the observable light in the cosmos as well as all the observable galaxies make up only about 4 percent of the energy and matter of the universe. About 73 percent of the universe is dark energy, which causes the universe to expand at an accelerating rate. Another 23 percent is dark matter, which provides a “gravitational glue” to hold galaxies, as well as clusters of galaxies, together.
Tickets for the lecture are $7.
