Dark Energy:

While dark matter attracts and holds galaxies together, dark energy repels and causes the expansion of our universe.

• Dark energy, the mysterious form of energy that makes up about 68% of the universe.
• Dark energy has been noted as “the most profound mystery in all of science”. With advanced technologies and newer experiments, scientists have found certain direct detection of dark energy.

Dark energy Vs Dark matter:

• Everything we see – the planets, moons, massive galaxies, makes up less than 5% of the universe. 
• About 27% is dark matter and 68% is dark energy. While dark matter attracts and holds galaxies together, dark energy repels and causes the expansion of our universe.

Why in News?

• With advanced technologies and newer experiments, scientists have found certain clues about it and, recently, an international team of researchers made the first putative direct detection of dark energy.

About the New Experiment

• The experiment titled “XENON1T” is the world’s most sensitive dark matter experiment and was operated deep underground at the INFN Laboratory in Italy.
• The finding suggests that experiments like XENON1T, which are designed to detect dark matter, could also be used to detect dark energy.
• Large-scale experiments like XENON1T have been designed to directly detect dark matter, by searching for signs of dark matter ‘hitting’ ordinary matter, but dark energy is even more elusive.

Reference:

1. https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/what-is-dark-energy-have-scientists-detected-it-finally-7534930/