NASA -- The space agency recently confirmed the universe is expanding rapidly based on the data collected from Hubble Space Telescope. NASA stated that the universe is expanding by as much as 9% faster than what the agency has expected. This is based on the theory that after the Big Bang, the universe will continue to expand, according to NASA astronomers.
As a result of the discovery, the expansion of the universe may require the astronauts to find new theories in physics to explain how such behavior could happen.
"The mismatch of expected data from actual data is growing. It has now reached a point where it can't be considered as a statistical error. This was something we truly didn't expect," said Adam Riess, project leader. He is a distinguished professor of Bloomberg in physics and astronomy from the John Hopkins University. His works have earned him a Nobel laureate.
The Hubble Constant is the term used to refer to the speed of expansion of the universe. Scientists have continuously worked on understanding such phenomenon that helped shape a better understanding of physics and the existence of things in the universe. However, it has been repeatedly observed to be behaving unexpectedly. As astronomers discover more about it, the higher the discrepancies as to how it is and what is known of it.
Scientists have been wondering if it's possible that the theories the world knows about it are all wrong. This new study confirms the speculations about it and may require further work to better understand how the universe is growing and its impact to mankind.
The new data has allowed researchers to confirm the existence of the "cosmic distance ladder," which basically allows scientists to make measurements of the distances of the elements in space. They were also able to use such information to calculate the Hubble constant to determine the rate of how fast the universe expanding is.
"If the values of the study do not agree with what we already know, then it only means we are missing something very strong that causes the difference," Riess explained. "We remain hopeful that we can further look into this difference and refine our knowledge more. We might also need to shy away from the Hubble Constant, as it may not actually be a constant to begin with."
