The News
Thursday 28 of March 2024

New study says universe expanding faster and is younger


AP Photo,This image made from a composite of September 2003 - January 2004 photos captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows nearly 10,000 galaxies in the deepest visible-light image of the cosmos, cutting across billions of light-years. In research released on Friday, April 26, 2019, Nobel winning astronomer Adam Riess calculates the cosmos is between 12.5 and 13.0 billion years old - about 1 billion years younger than previous estimates. (NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI), HUDF Team via AP)
AP Photo,This image made from a composite of September 2003 - January 2004 photos captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows nearly 10,000 galaxies in the deepest visible-light image of the cosmos, cutting across billions of light-years. In research released on Friday, April 26, 2019, Nobel winning astronomer Adam Riess calculates the cosmos is between 12.5 and 13.0 billion years old - about 1 billion years younger than previous estimates. (NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI), HUDF Team via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new study by a Nobel-winning astronomer says the universe is expanding faster than it used to, meaning it’s about a billion years younger than we thought.

And that’s sending a shudder through the world of physics, making astronomers re-think some of their most basic concepts.

At issue is a number called the Hubble constant, a calculation for how fast the universe is expanding.

Using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, Johns Hopkins University astronomer Adam Riess concluded in a scientific journal this week that the figure is 9% higher than the previous calculation.

The trouble is, Riess and others think both calculations are correct.

Confused? That’s OK, so are the experts.

So they are looking for the cosmic fudge factors that would help explain it all.