The universe is expanding FASTER than expected - and astronomers say something ‘beyond our current knowledge’ is causing it
- New measurements found Hubble Constant to be faster than ESA estimates
- But, the new numbers line up with estimate from a different study last year
- Discrepancy suggests something 'beyond current knowledge’ could be at play
- New numbers indicate universe is expanding faster than astronomers thought
The universe could be expanding much faster than astronomers thought.
New measurements of the Hubble Constant have revealed a discrepancy between the new number and other recent estimates, suggesting something ‘beyond our current knowledge’ may be at play.
These findings could shed new light on the little-understood behaviour of dark matter and dark energy, and could even point to holes in Einstein’s theory of general relativity.
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The team used the Hubble Space Telescope to observe three galaxies that act as ‘gravitational lenses,’ each bending light from a distant quasar. The image shows E0435-1223, one of the best lensed quasars discovered to date
In the new study, the researchers estimate the Hubble Constant – the universe’s rate of expansion – to be roughly 71.9 kilometers (44.7 miles) per second per megaparsec.
While this lines up with calculations made last year using the Cepheid variable stars and supernovae as reference, it goes against those from the ESA’s Planck satellite mission in 2015, which pinned it at 66.9 kilometers (41.6 miles) per second per megaparsec.
The controversial new findings come from an international team of researchers known as HOLiCOW, and are set to be revealed in five papers published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
The team used the Hubble Space Telescope to observe three galaxies that act as ‘gravitational lenses,’ each bending light from a distant quasar.
This allowed them to capture multiple images of the quasars, which randomly fluctuate in brightness.
The uneven mass distribution of these huge galaxies means some areas bend or slow light more than others, causing the light form the quasar to arrive at different times depending on their route through the lens.
To determine the Hubble Constant, the researchers measured this ‘traffic delay.’
The uneven mass distribution of these huge galaxies means some areas bend or slow light more than others, causing the light form the quasar to arrive at different times depending on their route through the lens. An artist's impression of a quasar is pictured
Their analysis revealed numbers that closely agree with those from the separate observations made last year, but different than those from the Planck space telescope, which measure radiation from the cosmic microwave background.
‘The expansion rate of the Universe is now starting to be measured in different ways with such high precision that actual discrepancies may possibly point towards new physics beyond our current knowledge of the Universe,’ said Sherry Suyu at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Germany.
‘The Hubble constant is crucial for modern astronomy as it can help to confirm or refute whether our picture of the Universe – composed of dark energy, dark matter, and normal matter – is actually correct, or if we are missing something fundamental.’
The researchers say there could be a number of factors contributing to the discrepancy, including the Planck measurement’s assumption that the universe is flat, or even just a statistical fluctuation that will disappear in time with more precise estimates.
Or, they say, new physics could be to blame.
‘The tension between local and CMB measurements of the Hubble constant is strengthened by the new strong lensing observations,’ says Frederic Courbin at EPFL’s Laboratory of Astrophysics, which is part of HOLiCOW.
‘The tension cam be caused by new physics beyond the standard Cosmological Model, in particular new forms of dark energy.’
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