天文学家将于十二月十六日、下周二，在美东部时间下午一点召开一次媒体发布会，宣布由Chandra X射线太空望远镜得到的关于暗能量（dark energy）重要新发现。

所谓“暗能量”是一种神秘的物质，它对维系宇宙及星系处于目前的状态有极其重要的作用，但我们没有办法直接观测到它。当然，这些都是一种理论推测。

Chandra X射线望远镜于1999年7月23日发射。原定的设计寿命是五年，现在超期服役。

NASA发布的原文如下：





NASA to Announce New Findings on Dark Energy


WASHINGTON -- Astronomers will hold a media teleconference Tuesday, Dec. 16 at 1 p.m. EST to announce important new results on dark energy that were made using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.

The briefing participants are:
-- Alexey Vikhlinin, astrophysicist, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, Mass.
-- William Forman, astrophysicist, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
-- David Spergel, theoretical astrophysicist, Princeton University

To participate in the teleconference, reporters must contact the Chandra press office at 617-496-7998 or via e-mail at [email protected] before noon on Tuesday, Dec. 16, for dial-in information.

A video file about the discovery will air on NASA Television on Dec. 16. The teleconference audio will be streamed live on the Web at:

http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio