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mahoagie t1_j2qe98p wrote

Reply to comment by mfb- in How do galaxies move? by modsarebrainstems

Please say more about dark matter- in its universe, why would that be true?

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mfb- t1_j2rbdcl wrote

Dark energy (which I discussed) and dark matter (which I didn't) are completely different things.

A universe with only dark energy (or where everything else is negligible) expands exponentially, i.e. if you follow the distance between two objects over time then this distance increases exponentially. It has a constant expansion rate. If you emit light at a distance where the distance increases at the speed of light then the light will always keep that distance - the expansion perfectly matches the speed of the light, and the expansion rate doesn't change so the light will never come closer.

In our universe, where matter still plays a role (~3/4 dark energy, 1/4 matter today), the expansion rate is decreasing a bit. Light emitted at the same distance of "light speed distance increase" doesn't get closer to us today, but it will start getting closer "tomorrow" (will take hundreds of millions of years before this is significant, of course).

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