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Over time, the disparate Hubble constant values have crept closer together because scientific measurements have become more precise-still, a puzzling gap remains. For example, measurements of light from distant supernovae yield a slightly lower value than the CMB does. Intuitively, the Hubble constant should be the same no matter what measurement method is used, but weirdly, it’s not.

Exploding Stars Light the Way to a Stranger World This instrument is so precise that it has helped pin down not only the age of the universe, but also a number of other amazing discoveries, including the density of all atoms in the universe and the time when the first stars began to shine. Scientists employ radio telescopes such as NASA’s super-precise Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe to find this ancient radiation.

Yet, the rate itself is accelerating, so the Hubble constant changes with time.Ĭould Aliens Have Created Our Universe in a Lab?Ĭosmologists, who try to understand the development of our universe, derive the Hubble constant in different ways: They measure the speed of nearby objects in space examine gravitational waves emanating from interactions between neutron stars or black holes and they look at the amount of cosmic microwave background radiation (or CMB), a form of electromagnetic radiation filling the universe since the Big Bang. The name refers more to the fact that the universe expands at the same rate at every point, so the same value can be given to the expansion rate anywhere in the universe, at any given moment. That’s why the Hubble constant isn’t really a constant. Since the Big Bang kick-started the universe as we know it, that initial burst of energy and matter has been expanding outward, and the rate of expansion is increasing, based on a host of observations of stars and galaxies. The Hubble constant is a handy number for closely estimating the age of the universe-13.8 billion years. Cyr-Racine’s research on the possibility of a mirror universe was published earlier this month in the journal Physical Review Letters. Francis-Yan Cyr-Racine of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque is trying to reconcile differing figures for the Hubble constant by using the idea of a “mirror universe.” It’s identical to our own, down to the subatomic particles, but its only interaction with our world is through its gravitational influence. Instead, there could be a mirror universe that’s just like our own, exerting its invisible influence on ours.

This is troubling because it implies that the universe could be smaller than currently thought, altering much of our knowledge about the cosmos.īut we don’t have to scrap the current model of the universe. The problem their increasing accuracy reveals is that the Hubble constant-the predicted rate of expansion of the universe-changes depending on the method of measurement used. Our data-gathering instruments, including both ground- and space-based telescopes, have improved over the years. Something’s strange in our cosmic neighborhood.Īstrophysicists have been struggling to figure out why a fundamental figure that has helped explain the expansion of our universe since its inception isn’t as reliable as once thought. The existence of a mirror world that exerts its gravity on our world would explain the difference.The constant should be the same no matter what measurement is used, but it differs between measurement methods.It helps cosmologists predict what the cosmos will look like in the future. The Hubble constant is the rate of expansion of the universe.