The Universe has been expanding since the dawn of time, almost 14 billion years ago following the Big Bang. However, since then, the pace at which it is expanding has been increasing thanks to a mysterious substance known as dark energy. While gravity pulls everything together, causing clusters in galaxies for example, dark energy is responsible for making the universe expand.
It has been known through observations of the cosmos that the Universe is expanding, but the latest data from Hubble Telescope suggests it is moving nine percent faster than previously thought.
To obtain the data, a team from SH0ES (Supernovae, H0, for the Equation of State) – at Johns Hopkins University – analysed light from 70 stars in a nearby galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, to see how fast they are moving away from us.
The team specifically analysed a group of stars known as Cepheids which brighten and dim at regular intervals.
They used a measurement known as DASH (Drift And Shift) – which allowed them to focus on more than one star at once, whereas Hubble images are usually the result of one star observed avery 90 minutes, making the process usually time consuming.
With the DASH technique, the team were able to fine tune the “cosmic distance ladder”, which is used to determine distances within the Universe.
Comparing the results of the DASH measurement and standard Hubble measurements, the researchers noticed a slight discrepancy in terms of how bright the Cepheids actually were – the closer the star, the brighter it appears.
The results indicate the stars are slightly farther than expected, leading to the conclusion that the universe is expanding at a faster rate than expected.
Adam Riess, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy at The Johns Hopkins University, Nobel Laureate and the project’s leader, said: “This is not just two experiments disagreeing.
“We are measuring something fundamentally different. One is a measurement of how fast the universe is expanding today, as we see it.
“The other is a prediction based on the physics of the early universe and on measurements of how fast it ought to be expanding.
“If these values don’t agree, there becomes a very strong likelihood that we’re missing something in the cosmological model that connects the two eras.”
However, if the Universe is expanding quicker, does this mean the end of time is also nearer?
Thanks to the presence of dark energy, the Universe will continue to expand until matter and energy are evenly spread throughout, causing the temperature to cool to absolute zero.
What happens then is still a bit of a mystery, but scientists tend to opt for the Big Rip theory.
As previously stated, the cosmos has been constantly expanding since the dawn of time and once there is absolutely nothing left and as dark energy overtakes the effects of gravity, the universe to expand at a quicker and quicker rate, until its pace reaches the speed of light.
Entropy, which essentially dictates the order of molecules making up the universe, stops as there is nothing left to play with.
However if it is the case that the end is nearer, it still will not happen for TRILLIONS of years.