For almost a hundred years, astronomers have known that galaxies are flying apart. But in the 1990s, observations of supernova explosions revealed: this is happening faster and faster. The cause was dubbed dark energy — an invisible force inflating space. The discovery earned the Nobel Prize for Saul Perlmutter, Adam Riess, and Brian Schmidt. Since then, scientists have been trying to figure out whether this cosmic 'gas pedal' is constant.

The new DESI survey mapped millions of галактик and tracked their motion via imprints of density waves from the Big Bang era. Combined with data on сверхновых, this indicated: тёмная энергия may be neither eternal nor uniform. It sometimes weakens, sometimes strengthens — like an engine that changes its own revs. A model called Mirage gave the clearest signals, but what's more surprising: if this trend holds true, the Universe is destined not for eternal expansion of the universe but for a rip — when space itself starts tearing apart galaxies and atoms.

The statistical significance is still low — 2 sigma, like flipping seven heads in a row. We're far from a reliable 5 sigma. Yet each new sky map brings the answer closer: either dark energy is an unchanging property of the vacuum, or a living, evolving entity. And on this hinges whether the cosmos freezes in eternal cold or vanishes in a fiery flash.