James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) confirms the universe is expanding at an unexpected rate | Current Affairs | Vision IAS
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Data from NASA’s JSWT confirms the Hubble Space Telescope's earlier finding that the rate of the universe's expansion is faster by about 8%.

Universe’s Expansion Rates:

  • Hubble’s Law — also known as the Hubble Constant — says that universe is expanding at a rate of 67-68 kilometers per second per megaparsec (a megaparsec is 3.26 million light-years). 
  • However, telescope observations give a higher value of 70 to 76 kilometers per second per megaparsec.
    • This discrepancy between the telescope observed expansion rate of the universe and the Hubble Constant is called the ‘Hubble Tension’ 

Probable reasons for expansion:

  • Dark matter: Comprise ~ 27% of the universe, is a hypothesised form of matter that is invisible but is inferred to exist based on its gravitational effects on ordinary matter like stars, planets, moons, etc.
    • Ordinary matter accounts for roughly 5% of the universe.
  • Dark energy: It’s a hypothetical form of energy proposed by physicists to explain why the universe is not just expanding but is doing so at an accelerating rate.
    • It comprises ~69% of the Universe.
    • It’s an anti-gravity" force that stretches the very fabric of spacetime.

Key proofs of Universe’s expansion:

  • Redshift of galaxies: light from distant galaxies is redshifted, meaning their wavelengths are stretched, indicating they are moving away from us.
  • Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB): Radiation left over from the Big Bang that fills the entire universe, and detected in all directions. 
  • Others:  Supernovae observations, gravitational waves observations etc.
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