Richard Ellis: Observational Probes of Dark Energy: Consumer's Guide

In this first lecture in a series by several, I will introduce the mystery of dark energy and briefly outline a possible strategy for making progress via the description of three popular observational probes: distant supernovae, weak gravitational lensing and the large scale distribution of galaxies. For each probe, I'll discuss recent progress and the challenges that lie ahead. The talk will be generic in nature and not specific to any mission or project.