New discoveries are produced all the time that alter our perception of what scientists have discovered.
Most of these discoveries are frequently attributed to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which was launched into space for the first time in December 2021.
It has now produced yet another groundbreaking finding, demonstrating to astronomers that our understanding of the cosmos is not infallible.
READ MORE: NASA Once Paid A Man $1,000,000,000 To Prevent An Asteroid From Colliding With Earth
The JWST has witnessed a lot in the little more than a year since it was sent into space, including the birth of a star 1,300 light years from Earth and a star that was about to die.
The cutting-edge telescope has produced multiple high-resolution pictures of black holes, galaxies, and other objects.
However, the telescope has contributed much to the study of physics and offers more than just stunning images.
READ MORE: Scientists Issue A Dire Warning To NASA, Stating That Its Current Plans Could “Destroy” The Moon
Currently, JWST and the Hubble telescope are being utilized once more to validate a major physics conundrum.
A study that was published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters suggests that our explanation of the operation of the cosmos may be completely incorrect.
And that is that, depending greatly on your point of view, the cosmos appears to be expanding at different rates.
This is referred to as the Hubble tension, and last year, JWST verified the preliminary measurements that Hubble had taken in 2019, so solidifying the long-standing idea.
The Hubble constant, which expresses the pace at which the cosmos is expanding, can be calculated in two different methods.
The first approach uses the remnants of the Big Bang, which are tiny oscillations in the cosmic microwave background. The second method uses pulsing stars, or Cepheid variables, which measure the brightness of the stars by looking at their outer layers.
READ MORE: NASA Spacecraft Is Scheduled To Make A Solar “Landing” Attempt
Astronomers discovered in 2009 and 2013 that the value was around 46,200 miles per hour per million light years, or 67 kilometers per second per megaparsec (km/s/sMpc), based on the first method of calculation.
While using Cepheid variables to delve deeper into the past of the universe, lead author Adam Reiss, a professor of physics and astronomy at Johns Hopkins University, and his colleagues, Saul Perlmutter and Brian P. Schmidt, found the universe’s expansion rate is around 74 km/s/Mpc.
This figure is significantly greater than the estimated value of 67 km/s/Mpc.
And the field of cosmology has entered a truly unclear state as a result of this discovery.
Reiss stated: “With measurement errors negated, what remains is the real and exciting possibility we have misunderstood the universe.”
It has since been established that the discovery was not a measurement error caused by mistaking Cepheid stars for normal stars in the Hubble’s lens.
“We’ve now spanned the whole range of what Hubble observed, and we can rule out a measurement error as the cause of the Hubble Tension with very high confidence,” he continued.
“Webb and Hubble combined offer us the best of both worlds.” As we move further up the cosmic distance ladder, we discover that the Hubble measurements hold true.”
Radiant TV, offering to elevate your entertainment game! Movies, TV series, exclusive interviews, music, and more—download now on various devices, including iPhones, Androids, smart TVs, Apple TV, Fire Stick, and more.
