The universe is apparently expanding faster than previously thought based on the Hubble Constant. In this new study, scientists have confirmed the evidence found in a similar survey indicating that the universe is expanding at an accelerated rate.
Past studies have measured the Hubble Constant as well as variable stars and supernovae. In this latest study, astronomer Sherry Suyu from the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics utilized images captured by the Hubble Space Telescope to examine the light emitted by distant quasars and super bright galactic cores when it bends around galaxies, as seen from Earth.
This light bending is known as gravitational lensing, and astronomers are focusing their studies on specifically six galaxies. When this light from the distant quasars and galaxies is warped by gravity, the effect becomes magnified and fractured. This also means that Hubble can capture multiple images lensing events from a single quasar.
In reality, galaxies are not exactly perfectly spherical or round, and light from quasars can be bent from a variety of unique angles that can create delays in reaching Earth. For example, there are light waves that can travel faster due to a shorter path and there are other light waves that can travel in a longer path.
This all depends on the quasar source, and these images reveal flickering effects. Astronomers utilize these "flickers" to calculate the Hubble Constant.
According to astronomer Frederic Courbin from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, this method is the most simple and direct way to obtain a Hubble Constant measurement since it only uses geometry principles and general relativity and no other assumptions.
Measuring the Hubble Constant can provide the scientific community with a deeper understanding of the expansion of the universe that can also help build newer models about the birth and evolution of the universe.
Suyu noted that the Hubble Constant is crucial in modern astronomy to confirm or refute our picture of the universe if it truly does contain dark matter, dark energy, and regular matter, and if these are correct or if are we missing something fundamental.
These latest findings also support the data obtained from the European Space Agency's Planck satellite, calculating the faster than expected expansion of the distant universe. This new study was published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.