Scientists have long predicted that the universe is still developing today. Now, measurements from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (National Aeronautics and Space Agency, United States) confirm that this is indeed true.
"The division (between measurements and previous predictions) is getting bigger and reaching the point that has been considered impossible as a coincidence," said Professor of Physics and Astronomy at John Hopkins University and Nobel laureate, Adam Riess. Riess is the chair of the Shoes Team who conducted the research. From the results of research obtained at this time that the universe is expanding 9% faster than previously thought. This was revealed in a recent study published in "The Astrophysical Journal" as reported by CNN.
The speed of expansion of the universe is different from the trajectory of the universe after the Big Bang 13 billion years ago. The track is measured by the Plank Satellite of the European Antarctic Agency (ESA). The Plank satellite is able to map the glow of light since 380,000 years after the Big Bang called the "cosmic microwave background", allowing for predictions of the evolution of the universe.
Based on data from Hubble, scientists consider the possibility of the difference is only 1: 100,000. To get data on the development of the universe, Hubble measured the light from 70 stars located in the Great Magellanic Cloud, about 162,000 light years from Earth and is our neighboring galaxy (Milky Way). Star vibrations produce predictable, bright levels of light that can be measured as a distance between galaxies.
These measurements help calculate Hubble's constant, the expansion speed of the universe, and strengthen the cosmic distance ladder used to determine distances in the universe. The cosmic distance ladder depends on stars from different galaxies as galaxies between galaxies. However, these measurements take time. Hubble was only able to take one photo when measuring for 90 minutes around the earth.
