Name: Dark Energy and Distant Worlds
Start: 2026-05-18T19:30:00
End: 2026-05-18T21:30:00
Location: The Durell Arms

Discrepancies in how we understand the Universe have emerged since the beginning of its exploration. According to Einstein's calculations, the Universe is expanding. Our evening will start with why the Universe seems to be expanding faster than expected. Undoubtedly, space is huge. To the extent that life beyond Earth is possible. Join us as we discover stars and planets outside our Solar System.

Is the universe expanding too fast? Why the standard model of cosmology may be wrong

Jules Buet (they/them) (PhD Student in Astroinformatics, University College London (UCL))

A lot of our understanding of the Universe is based on ideas developed by Albert Einstein - the cosmological constant Lambda is no different: Einstein introduced it in his general relativity equation over a century ago. Speculations on its exact value have happened since then, but for the past 30 years, astrophysicists were fairly confident it was the source of dark energy: the mysterious force causing the universe to expand faster and faster. This all changed a year ago when a NASA telescope in Arizona put this all in question: what if the cosmological constant wasn't... actually constant!

Searching for Exoplanets

Marina Ventikos (she/her) (PhD Student in Astrophysics, University College London (UCL))

The phenomenon of alien planets orbiting stars other than our Sun, once a notion only in science fiction, has revolutionised astronomy. The discovery of a giant gas planet orbiting a Sun-like star in 1995 led to far more "exoplanets" being discovered. This talk will introduce some astrophysical concepts and techniques to analyse the behaviour of stars, to characterise these faraway worlds and delve into how physics theories are combined with telescope data to study exoplanets. We will take a tour to some of the most unusual exoplanets and think about the possibility of life in outer space.

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