The Universe Is Expanding Faster Than We Expected

 Laura Antunez / Contributing Writer

 

The universe is expanding at about a 10 percent faster rate than astronomers initially predicted, according to findings from the Hubble Space Telescope.

The expansion of the universe is a phenomenon that has been occurring since its initial birth. 

Dr. Caroline Simpson is a physics professor, and her research on star formation in dwarf galaxies can help tell how the universe has evolved. 

“When the universe was first born from a singularity – a mathematically infinitesimally small point – it took about 380,000 years for it to cool down and expand enough where particles could form,” said Simpson. 

This initial expansion that kicked off the beginning of everything we know never stopped. 

Using a constant developed by Edwin Hubble in the early 20th century and a “distance ladder,” astronomers can measure the velocity and distance at which galaxies move away from each other.

Astronomers call whatever is that causes the expansion rate to speed up “dark energy.” 

“It seems to make up 72% of the universe, whatever that stuff is that’s pushing outward,” said Simpson.

As far as what can be the possible outcome of this increased expansion rate, Dr. Simpson says there are a few theories:

The universe can eventually stop expanding, and instead begin contracting, due to an increase in the matter and its subsequent effects on gravity, in a theory astronomers call “the big crunch.” In this instant, the big bang would happen in reverse, and we would end up where we started, back as a small dense point in a void. 

Another option is known as the heat death of the universe. There are two ways to come to this end.

In the first, the universe slows down the expansion process, eventually stopping altogether. After a long time, stars would burn out and everything would cool down. In the second, the universe continues to expand, until everything gets so far apart that protons would decay.

The option that is most likely for the fate of the universe, however, is called “The Big Rip.” In this theoretical model, the dark energy expands the universe until the point where the fabric of space-time itself eventually gets ripped apart. 

There is nothing we can do to alter the ultimate fate of the universe or its expansion processes. The good news is, these things won’t happen for a very long time. The better news is, the FIU Astronomy Department and Astronomy Club offer their telescopes free to the public every Saturday night if the weather permits. 

 

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