Slight more than a hundred years ago no one on our planet knew that the Universe was expanding. But despite all the misfortunes and misfortunes that the twentieth century brought humanity, it is this century to be marked by scientific and technical progress. For an incredibly short period of time, we learned about the world and the universe more than ever. The idea that our Universe expands over the past 13.8 billion years for the first time offered Belgian physicist Georges Lemeter in 1927. Two years later, American Astronoma Edwina Hubble managed to confirm this hypothesis. He found that every galaxy is removed from us and what it further is, the faster it happens. Today there are many ways with which scientists can understand how quickly our universe increases in size. Here are just numbers that researchers are obtained in the measurement process, each time they are obtained different. But why?
The biggest mystery of the universe
As we know today, there is a close relationship between the distance to the Galaxy and how quickly it is removed. So, let's say, the galaxy at a distance of 1 megaparsec from our planet (one megaparsek is approximately 3.3 million light years) is removed at a speed of 70 kilometers per second. And the galaxy that is somewhat further, at a distance of two megaparsek, moving twice as fast (140 km / s).
Interestingly, today there are two main approaches to determine the age of the universe or, in a scientific, permanent chabble. The difference between these two groups is that one set of methods considers relatively close objects in the universe, and the other is very remote. However, no matter how scientists did not take advantage of the way, the results are different every time. It comes out, or we do something wrong, or somewhere far in the universe there is something absolutely unknown.
In a study recently published on the AIRXIV.org preprint server, astronomers, studying nearby galaxies, used a smart method for measuring the expansion of the universe called surface brightness fluctuations (Surface Brightness Fluctuations). This is a bizarre name, but it includes an idea that is actually intuitive.
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Imagine that you are standing on the edge of the forest, right in front of the tree. Since you are very close, you see only one tree in your field of view. But it is worth a flush back, as more trees will arise before your eyes. And the farther you will leave, the more trees you will see. Approximately the same thing happens with galaxies that scientists are observed with the help of telescopes, only much more difficult.
How to find out the speed of expansion of the universe?
To get good statistics, astronomers are watching galaxies, located quite close to Earth, about 300 million light years and closer. However, watching the galaxies, it is necessary to take into account dust, background galaxies and star clusters, which can be seen on the images obtained using a telescope.
It is interesting: how will Nasa look for dark energy?
Universe Schitra. Since the 1990s, astronomers have seen that very distant exploding stars have always been located on, which showed simple measurements. This led them to the idea that the universe was now expanding faster than before, which, in turn, led to the discovery of the dark energy - mysterious force, accelerating the universal expansion.
As the authors of scientific work write, when we look at very distant objects, we see them as they were in the past when the universe was younger. If the speed of expansion of the universe was then different (say, 12-13, 8 billion years ago) than now (less than a billion years ago), we can get two different values for constant Hubble. Or maybe different parts of the universe expand at different speeds?
Read also: What scientists know about the age and expansion of the universe?
But if the rate of expansion has changed, it means the age of our universe is not at all such as we think (scientists use the expansion rate of the universe to determine its age). This, in turn, means that the universe has a different size, which means the time required for something happened, will also be different.
In any case, the constant Hubble is the subject of hot disputes in the astronomical community. Since the new study added even more questions, the fight against uncertainty will be long. Someday, of course, our understanding of the space will change. But when this happens, the cosmologists will have to look for something else, what can argue. What they will definitely do.