Tag Archive for 'Hubble constant'

This artist’s impression shows the evolution of the Universe beginning with the Big Bang on the left followed by the appearance of the Cosmic Microwave Background. The formation of the first stars ends the cosmic dark ages, followed by the formation of galaxies. Image credit: M. Weiss / Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

New Study Finds No Evidence of Tension in Hubble Constant

Jun 3, 2025 by News Staff

As part of the Chicago-Carnegie Hubble Program, astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have performed new measurements of the Hubble...

An image of the CMB radiation from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope; orange and blue represent more or less intense radiation. Image credit: ACT Collaboration.

Atacama Cosmology Telescope Captures Clearest Images Yet of Cosmic Microwave Background

Mar 19, 2025 by News Staff

New images from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) reveal the Universe when it was about 380,000 years old. An image of the CMB radiation from the Atacama...

Webb Validates Hubble’s Distance Measurements

Dec 11, 2024 by News Staff

New observations from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope confirms previous measurements by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of distances between...

Artistic impression of a Multiverse. Image credit: Jaime Salcido / EAGLE Collaboration.

New Theoretical Model Calculates Chances of Intelligent Life in Our Universe and Beyond

Nov 13, 2024 by News Staff

In 1961, American astrophysicist and astrobiologist Dr. Frank Drake devised an equation in which several factors are multiplied together to estimate the...

This image of NGC 5468, a galaxy located some 142 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo, combines data from Hubble and s Webb. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / A. Riess, JHU & STScI.

Webb Measurements Shed New Light on ‘Hubble Tension’ Mystery

Mar 12, 2024 by News Staff

When you are trying to solve one of the biggest conundrums in cosmology, you should triple check your homework. The puzzle, called the Hubble Tension,...

ESA’s Euclid spacecraft will orbit the second Lagrange point (L2), 1.5 million km from Earth in the opposite direction to the Sun. L2 is an equilibrium point of the Sun-Earth system that follows Earth around the Sun. In its orbit at L2, Euclid’s sunshield can always block the light from the Sun, Earth and Moon while pointing its telescope towards deep space, ensuring a high level of stability for its instruments. At L2, Euclid joins ESA’s Gaia mission and the ESA/NASA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, which are also orbiting around this equilibrium point, each following well separated trajectories. Image credit: ESA.

ESA’s Euclid Mission Launches to Explore Dark Matter and Energy

Jul 3, 2023 by News Staff

The Euclid spacecraft, built and operated by ESA, with contributions from NASA, lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 11:12...

The enlarged inset view reveals four images of SN Refsdal, spotted in 2014, arranged around a giant elliptical galaxy within the cluster. The light from the supernova passes so closely to the galaxy’s dense core that several light paths are redirected and focused toward Earth. The result is that astronomers see four images that form an Einstein Cross. The blue streaks wrapping around the galaxy are the stretched images of SN Refsdal’s parent spiral galaxy, which has been distorted by the warping of space. Computer models of the cluster predict that another image of the stellar blast will appear within 5 years. The red circle marks the possible location of the next supernova image. Astronomers may have missed an earlier appearance of the supernova in 1995, as marked by the blue circle. These multiple appearances of the exploding star are due to the various paths its light is taking through the maze of clumpy dark matter in the galactic grouping. Each image takes a different route through the cluster and arrives at a different time, due, in part, to differences in the length of the pathways the light follows to reach Earth. Image credit: NASA / ESA / S. Rodney, JHU / FrontierSN team / T. Treu, UCLA / P. Kelly, UC Berkeley / GLASS team / J. Lotz, STScI / Frontier Fields team / M. Postman, STScI / CLASH team / Z. Levay, STScI.

Light from Supernova Refsdal Helps Astronomers Measure Universe’s Expansion Rate

May 17, 2023 by News Staff

The gravitationally lensed Supernova (SN) Refsdal was discovered by University of Minnesota astronomer Patrick Kelly in 2014 in the field of MACS J1149.6+2223,...

This Hubble image shows NGC 6956, a barred spiral galaxy some 215 million light-years away in the constellation of Delphinus. Image credit: NASA / ESA / D. Jones, University of California, Santa Cruz / Gladys Kober, NASA & Catholic University of America.

Hubble Space Telescope Spots Cepheid Variables in NGC 6956

Dec 17, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have imaged the barred spiral galaxy NGC 6956, which is found in the constellation of Delphinus. This...

This deep field image from the Dark Energy Survey is teeming with galaxies; in fact, nearly every single object in this image is a galaxy; some exceptions include a couple of dozen asteroids as well as a few handfuls of foreground stars in our own Milky Way Galaxy. Image credit: Dark Energy Survey / DOE / FNAL / DECam / CTIO / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / T.A. Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage & NOIRLab / M. Zamani, NOIRLab / D. de Martin, NOIRLab.

Dark Energy Survey Makes Most Precise Measurements Yet of Universe’s Composition and Growth

May 31, 2021 by News Staff

Over the course of six years, astronomers with the Dark Energy Survey (DES) surveyed 5,000 square degrees — almost one-eighth of the entire sky —...

The first artist’s illustration shows a key part of the process that created this new black hole, as the two neutron stars spin around each other while merging. The purple material depicts debris from the merger. Image credit: NASA / CXC / M.Weiss.

Black Hole-Neutron Star Mergers May Help Precisely Measure Universe’s Rate of Expansion

Apr 29, 2021 by News Staff

Gravitational-wave and electromagnetic observations of neutron-star-black-hole mergers can provide precise local measurements of the Universe’s rate...

Physicists Suggest Existence of New Type of Dark Energy

Mar 3, 2021 by News Staff

Recent measurements of the expansion rate of the Universe have plunged the standard model of cosmology, the ΛCDM model, into a crisis. In a new paper...

Gravitational Waves May Help Find Universe’s Missing Components

Dec 31, 2020 by News Staff

Whenever two compact objects (black holes or neutron stars) collide elsewhere in the Universe, they create gravitational waves that travel across space,...

This Hubble images shows SN 2018gv (a very bright star located on the outer edge of one of the galaxy’s spiral arms in the left portion of the image) in the barred spiral galaxy NGC 2525. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / A. Riess & SH0ES Team / Mahdi Zamani.

Hubble Observes Spectacular Supernova in NGC 2525

Oct 1, 2020 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have tracked the fading light of a Type Ia supernova in NGC 2525, a barred spiral galaxy located...

Study: Universe Might Be 1.2 Billion Years Younger

Jul 27, 2020 by News Staff

The Universe is assumed to be around 13.8 billion years old, but new calculations suggest it could be younger than that. This artist’s impression shows...

Sloan Digital Sky Survey Collaboration Releases New 3D Map of Universe

Jul 20, 2020 by News Staff

Astrophysicists and cosmologists from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) have released the largest 3D map of the Universe ever created, filling in the...

This new picture of the Cosmic Microwave Background, the oldest light in the Universe, was taken by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope. This covers a swath of the sky 50 times as wide as the Moon, representing a region of space 20 billion light-years across. The light, emitted just 380,000 years after the Big Bang, varies in polarization (represented here by redder or bluer colors). Image credit: ACT Collaboration.

Universe is 13.77 Billion Years Old, Astronomers Say

Jul 17, 2020 by News Staff

Astronomers using NSF’s Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) have taken a fresh look at the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), the oldest light in our Universe....

Artist’s illustration of two merging neutron stars. Image credit: NSF / LIGO / Sonoma State University / A. Simonnet.

Astronomers Develop New Method for Measuring Hubble Constant

Jul 11, 2019 by News Staff

The Hubble constant measures the current expansion rate of our Universe and plays a fundamental role in cosmology: it can be used to determine the Universe’s...

This image shows the entire Large Magellanic Cloud, with some of the brightest objects marked. Image credit: Robert Gendler / ESO.

Universe is Expanding 9% Faster than Expected, New Hubble Measurements Show

Apr 26, 2019 by News Staff

Measurements of today’s expansion rate do not match the rate that was expected based on how the Universe appeared shortly after the Big Bang over 13...

This illustration helps explain how astronomers tracked the effects of dark energy to about one billion years after the Big Bang by determining the distances to quasars, rapidly growing black holes that shine extremely brightly. Two of the most distant quasars studied are shown in Chandra images in the insets. Image credit: NASA / CXC / M. Weiss; X-rays – NASA / CXC / University of Florence / G. Risaliti & E. Lusso.

Dark Energy May Have Varied over Cosmic Time, New Study Suggests

Jan 31, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA’s XMM-Newton spacecraft have found evidence that an invisible force called dark...

Using NASA/ESA Hubble and ESA’s Gaia space telescopes, Riess et al have made the most precise measurements to date of the Universe’s expansion rate. This is calculated by gauging the distances between nearby galaxies using special types of stars called Cepheid variables as cosmic yardsticks. By comparing their intrinsic brightness as measured by Hubble, with their apparent brightness as seen from Earth, scientists can calculate their distances. Gaia further refines this yardstick by geometrically measuring the distances to Cepheid variables within the Milky Way Galaxy. This allowed astronomers to more precisely calibrate the distances to Cepheids that are seen in outside galaxies. Image credit: NASA / ESA / A. Field, STScI.

Universe’s Expansion Measured with Greatest Precision Yet

Jul 16, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers have used the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and ESA’s Gaia space observatory to make the most precise measurements of the expansion rate...