The universe is expanding faster

The universe is expanding almost ten percent faster than previously thought, calling into question the accuracy of Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity.
Nasa and the European Space Agency announced the finding after using the Hubble space telescope to measure the distance to stars in 19 galaxies beyond the Milky Way.
The rate of expansion did not match predictions based on measurements of radiation left over from the Big Bang that started the known universe approximately 13.8bn years ago.
The discovery also prompts hypotheses about what fills parts of the cosmos, thought to amount to around 95%, that emits no light and no radiation.
One theory argues that the universe has unknown subatomic particles, similar to neutrinos, that travel nearly as fast as the speed of light, roughly 186,000 miles per second.
An alternative hypothesis is that “dark energy”, the anti-gravity force discovered in 1998, may be shoving galaxies away from one another more powerfully than originally estimated.
Lead author of the new research Adam Riess, said: “You start at two ends and you expect to meet in the middle if all of your drawings are right and your measurements are right.
“But now the ends are not quite meeting in the middle and we want to know why.
“This may be an important clue to understanding those parts of the universe that make up 95 percent of everything and don’t emit light, such as dark energy, dark matter and dark radiation,” said Riess.
The physicist, based at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, shared the 2011 Nobel prize for physics for the discovery that the expansion of the universe was speeding up.
Riess and his fellow scientists calculated the speed the universe is expanding by measuring a particular type of star, known as Cepheid variables, in the 19 galaxies beyond the Milky away.
How fast the stars pulse is related to how bright they are, which in turn can be used to measure their distances.
The quicker-expanding universe raises the prospect that Einstein’s general theory of relativity, which is the mathematical framework for understanding how the basic building blocks of matter interact, is slightly inaccurate, said Nasa.
The research will be published in the Astrophysical Journal.

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

The universe is expanding faster

The universe is expanding almost ten percent faster than previously thought, calling into question the accuracy of Albert Einsteins theory of relativity. Nasa and the European Space Agency announced the finding after using the Hubble space telescope to measure the distance to stars in 19 galaxies beyond the Milky Way. The rate of expansion did not match predictions based on measurements of radiation left over from the Big Bang that started the known universe approximately 13.8bn years ago. The discovery also prompts hypotheses about what fills parts of the cosmos, thought to amount to around 95%, that emits no light and no radiation. One theory argues that the universe has unknown subatomic particles, similar to neutrinos, that travel nearly as fast as the speed of light, roughly 186,000 miles per second. An alternative hypothesis is that dark energy, the anti-gravity force discovered in 1998, may be shoving galaxies away from one another more powerfully than originally estimated. Lead author of the new research Adam Riess, said: You start at two ends and you expect to meet in the middle if all of your drawings are right and your measurements are right. But now the ends are not quite meeting in the middle and we want to know why. This may be an important clue to understanding those parts of the universe that make up 95 percent of everything and dont emit light, such as dark energy, dark matter and dark radiation, said Riess. The physicist, based at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, shared the 2011 Nobel prize for physics for the discovery that the expansion of the universe was speeding up. Riess and his fellow scientists calculated the speed the universe is expanding by measuring a particular type of star, known as Cepheid variables, in the 19 galaxies beyond the Milky away. How fast the stars pulse is related to how bright they are, which in turn can be used to measure their distances. The quicker-expanding universe raises the prospect that Einsteins general theory of relativity, which is the mathematical framework for understanding how the basic building blocks of matter interact, is slightly inaccurate, said Nasa. The research will be published in the Astrophysical Journal. Source: www.telegraph.co.uk