Indian-origin scientist says universe will continue to expand forever

An Indian-origin cosmologist at Yale University has conducted a study that indicates that the expansion of the universe will continue to expand forever.

Priyamvada Natarajan used a massive galaxy cluster as a cosmic magnifying lens to study the nature of dark energy for the first time.

Astronomers employ a number of methods to study the geometry of the universe, which tells us something about the nature of dark energy-a mysterious force discovered in 1998 that speeds up the expansion of the universe, but about which little else is known.

The team analysed images of 34 extremely distant galaxies situated behind Abell 1689, one of the biggest and most massive known galaxy clusters in the universe.

They detected the faint, distant background galaxies-whose light was bent and projected by the cluster's massive gravitational pull - just as a lens does in a magnifier.

"The content, geometry and fate of the universe are linked, so if you can constrain two of those things, you learn something about the third," Natarajan said.

The result confirms previous findings that the nature of dark energy likely corresponds to a flat universe. In this scenario, the expansion of the universe will continue to accelerate and the universe will expand forever.