Universe’s expansion tagged posts

The universe’s expansion may actually have started to slow rather than accelerating at an ever-increasing rate as previously thought, a new study suggests.

“Remarkable” findings published today in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society cast doubt on the long-standing theory that a mysterious force known as ‘dark energy’ is driving distant galaxies away increasingly faster.

Instead, they show no evidence of an accelerating universe.

If the results are confirmed, it could open an entirely new chapter in scientists’ quest to uncover the true nature of dark energy, resolve the ‘Hubble tension,’ and understand the past and future of the universe.

Image around SN 2012dn obtained by the Kanata Telescope at Higashi-Hiroshima Observatory. SN 2012dn is seen near the center of this figure. The host galaxy ESO 462-G016 is seen on the left side of SN 2012dn. The distance to this galaxy is known to be 130 mega-light-years. Because the supernova is a point source, the expansion cannot be measured, but the evolutions of the brightness and color are obtained. Credit: Higashi-Hiroshima Observatory

Using Optical and Infrared Synergetic Telescopes for Education and Research (OISTER), researchers discovered an anomalously strong infrared emission from ‘the extraordinary supernova’ SN 2012dn, which has never been observed in other Type Ia supernovae to date...