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Hubble (/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html)
June 2, 2016
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This Hubble Space Telescope image shows
one of the galaxies in the survey to refine the
measurement for how fast the universe
expands with time, called the Hubble constant.
Credits: NASA, ESA and A. Riess
(STScI/JHU)
()
Astronomers using NASAs Hubble Space Telescope have discovered that the universe is
expanding 5 percent to 9 percent faster than expected.
This surprising finding may be an important clue to understanding those mysterious parts
of the universe that make up 95 percent of everything and dont emit light, such as dark
energy, dark matter and dark radiation, said study leader and Nobel Laureate Adam Riess
of the Space Telescope Science Institute and Johns Hopkins University, both in Baltimore,
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Maryland.
The results will appear in an upcoming issue of The Astrophysical Journal.
Riess team made the discovery by refining the universes current expansion rate to
unprecedented accuracy, reducing the uncertainty to only 2.4 percent. The team made the
refinements by developing innovative techniques that improved the precision of distance
measurements to faraway galaxies.
The team looked for galaxies containing both Cepheid stars and Type Ia supernovae.
Cepheid stars pulsate at rates that correspond to their true brightness, which can be
compared with their apparent brightness as seen from Earth to accurately determine their
distance. Type Ia supernovae, another commonly used cosmic yardstick, are exploding
stars that flare with the same brightness and are brilliant enough to be seen from relatively
longer distances.
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This illustration shows the three steps astronomers used to measure the universe's
expansion rate to an unprecedented accuracy, reducing the total uncertainty to 2.4
percent.
Credits: NASA, ESA, A. Feild (STScI), and A. Riess (STScI/JHU)
Click here to find out more about the three steps (http://www.nasa.gov/imagefeature/goddard/2016/three-steps-to-measuring-the-hubble-constant)
By measuring about 2,400 Cepheid stars in 19 galaxies and comparing the observed
brightness of both types of stars, they accurately measured their true brightness and
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MORE STORIES
This refined calibration presents a puzzle, however, because it does not quite match the
expansion rate predicted for the universe from its trajectory seen shortly after the Big
Bang. Measurements of the afterglow from the Big Bang by NASAs Wilkinson Microwave
Anisotropy Probe (http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/) (WMAP) and the European Space Agencys
Planck satellite mission
(https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/planck/overview.html#.V0NfKPkrKCg) yield
predictions which are 5 percent and 9 percent smaller for the Hubble constant,
respectively.
If we know the initial amounts of stuff in the universe, such as dark energy and dark
matter, and we have the physics correct, then you can go from a measurement at the time
shortly after the big bang and use that understanding to predict how fast the universe
should be expanding today, said Riess. However, if this discrepancy holds up, it appears
we may not have the right understanding, and it changes how big the Hubble constant
should be today.
Comparing the universes expansion rate with WMAP, Planck, and Hubble is like building a
bridge, Riess explained. On the distant shore are the cosmic microwave background
observations of the early universe. On the nearby shore are the measurements made by
Riess team using Hubble.
You start at two ends, and you expect to meet in the middle if all of your drawings are
right and your measurements are right, Riess said. But now the ends are not quite
meeting in the middle and we want to know why.
There are a few possible explanations for the universes excessive speed. One possibility
is that dark energy, already known to be accelerating the universe, may be shoving
galaxies away from each other with even greater or growing strength.
Another idea is that the cosmos contained a new subatomic particle in its early history that
traveled close to the speed of light. Such speedy particles are collectively referred to as
dark radiation and include previously known particles like neutrinos. More energy from
additional dark radiation could be throwing off the best efforts to predict today's
expansion rate from its post-Big Bang trajectory.
The boost in acceleration could also mean that dark matter possesses some weird,
unexpected characteristics. Dark matter is the backbone of the universe upon which
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Hubble (/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html)
May 27, 2016
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Back to Gallery (/mission_pages/hubble/multimedia/index.html)
Nearly as deep as the Hubble Ultra Deep Field
(http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2014/27/), which contains
approximately 10,000 galaxies, this incredible image from the Hubble Space Telescope
reveals thousands of colorful galaxies in the constellation of Leo (The Lion). This vibrant
view of the early universe was captured as part of the Frontier Fields campaign
(http://frontierfields.org/), which aims to investigate galaxy clusters in more detail than ever
before, and to explore some of the most distant galaxies in the universe.
Galaxy clusters are massive. They can have a tremendous impact on their surroundings,
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Hubble (/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html)
May 20, 2016
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This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows star clusters encircling a galaxy,
like bees buzzing around a hive. The hive in question is an edge-on lenticular galaxy NGC
5308, located just under 100 million light-years away in the constellation of Ursa Major (The
Great Bear).
Members of a galaxy type that lies somewhere between an elliptical and a spiral galaxy,
lenticular galaxies such as NGC 5308 are disk galaxies that have used up, or lost, the
majority of their gas and dust. As a result, they experience very little ongoing star
formation and consist mainly of old and aging stars. On Oct. 9, 1996, scientists saw one of
Tags: Galaxies (/subject/6894/galaxies), Goddard Space Flight Center
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Hubble (/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html)
May 13, 2016
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Together with irregular galaxies, spiral galaxies make up approximately 60 percent of the
galaxies in the local universe. However, despite their prevalence, each spiral galaxy is
unique like snowflakes, no two are alike. This is demonstrated by the striking face-on
spiral galaxy NGC 6814, whose luminous nucleus and spectacular sweeping arms, rippled
with an intricate pattern of dark dust, are captured in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space
Telescope image.
NGC 6814 has an extremely bright nucleus, a telltale sign that the galaxy is a Seyfert
galaxy. These galaxies have very active centers that can emit strong bursts of radiation.
Tags: Galaxies (/subject/6894/galaxies), Goddard Space Flight Center
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Hubble (/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html)
May 6, 2016
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Discovered in 1784 by the GermanBritish astronomer William Herschel, NGC 4394 is a
barred spiral galaxy situated about 55 million light-years from Earth. The galaxy lies in the
constellation of Coma Berenices (Berenice's Hair) and is considered to be a member of the
Virgo Cluster.
NGC 4394 is the archetypal barred spiral galaxy, with bright spiral arms emerging from the
ends of a bar that cuts through the galaxys central bulge. These arms are peppered with
young blue stars, dark filaments of cosmic dust, and bright, fuzzy regions of active star
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formation. At the center of NGC 4394 lies a region of ionized gas known as a low-ionization
Tags: Galaxies (/subject/6894/galaxies), Goddard Space Flight Center
(/centers/goddard/home/index.html), Hubble Space Telescope
(/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html), Image of the Day
(/multimedia/imagegallery/iotd.html), Universe (/topics/solarsystem/index.html)
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Hubble (/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html)
April 29, 2016
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This striking NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image captures the galaxy UGC 477,
located just over 110 million light-years away in the constellation of Pisces (The Fish).
UGC 477 is a low surface brightness (LSB) galaxy. First proposed in 1976 by Mike Disney,
the existence of LSB galaxies was confirmed only in 1986 with the discovery of Malin 1.
LSB galaxies like UGC 477 are more diffusely distributed than galaxies such as
Andromeda and the Milky Way. With surface brightnesses up to 250 times fainter than the
night sky, these galaxies can be incredibly difficult to detect.
Most of the matter present in LSB galaxies is in the form of hydrogen gas, rather than
Tags: Galaxies (/subject/6894/galaxies), Goddard Space Flight Center
(/centers/goddard/home/index.html), Hubble Space Telescope
(/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html), Universe (/topics/solarsystem/index.html)
Read Full Article
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Hubble (/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html)
April 22, 2016
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The elegant simplicity of NGC 4111, seen here in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble
Space Telescope, hides a more violent history than you might think. NGC 4111 is a
lenticular, or lens-shaped, galaxy about 50 million light-years from us in the constellation of
Canes Venatici (The Hunting Dogs).
Lenticular galaxies are an intermediate type of galaxy between an elliptical and a spiral.
They host aged stars like ellipticals and have a disk like a spiral. However, thats where the
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similarities end: They differ from ellipticals because they have a bulge and a thin disk, but
Tags: Galaxies (/subject/6894/galaxies), Goddard Space Flight Center
(/centers/goddard/home/index.html), Hubble Space Telescope
(/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html), Universe (/topics/solarsystem/index.html)
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Hubble (/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html)
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April 21, 2016
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Hubble (/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html)
April 15, 2016
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At first glance, this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image seems to show an array of
different cosmic objects, but the speckling of stars shown here actually forms a single
body a nearby dwarf galaxy known as Leo A. Its few million stars are so sparsely
distributed that some distant background galaxies are visible through it. Leo A itself is at a
distance of about 2.5 million light-years from Earth and a member of the Local Group of
galaxies; a group that includes the Milky Way and the well-known Andromeda galaxy.
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Astronomers study dwarf galaxies because they are very numerous and are simpler in
structure than their giant cousins. However, their small size makes them difficult to study
Tags: Galaxies (/subject/6894/galaxies), Goddard Space Flight Center
(/centers/goddard/home/index.html), Hubble Space Telescope
(/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html), Universe (/topics/solarsystem/index.html)
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Hubble (/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html)
April 8, 2016
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The star HD 44179 is surrounded by an extraordinary structure known as the Red
Rectangle. It acquired its moniker because of its shape and its apparent color when seen
in early images from Earth. This strikingly detailed Hubble image reveals how, when seen
from space, the nebula, rather than being rectangular, is shaped like an X with additional
complex structures of spaced lines of glowing gas, a little like the rungs of a ladder.
The star at the center is similar to the sun, but at the end of its lifetime, pumping out gas
and other material to make the nebula, and giving it the distinctive shape. It also appears
that the star is a close binary that is surrounded by a dense area of dust both of which
Tags: Goddard Space Flight Center (/centers/goddard/home/index.html), Hubble Space
Telescope (/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html), Nebulae (/subject/6893/nebulae), Stars
(/subject/6892/stars), Universe (/topics/solarsystem/index.html)
Read Full Article
Hubble (/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html)
April 1, 2016
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Hubble (/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html)
March 31, 2016
Hubble (/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html)
March 25, 2016
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At first glance, this cosmic kaleidoscope of purple, blue and pink offers a strikingly
beautiful and serene snapshot of the cosmos. However, this multi-colored haze
actually marks the site of two colliding galaxy clusters, forming a single object known as
MACS J0416.1-2403 (http://frontierfields.org/meet-the-frontier-fields/macsj0416/) (or
MACS J0416 for short).
MACS J0416 is located about 4.3 billion light-years from Earth, in the constellation of
Eridanus. This image of the cluster combines data from three different telescopes: the
NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (https://www.nasa.gov/hubble) (showing the galaxies
Tags: Chandra X-Ray Observatory (/mission_pages/chandra/main/index.html), Galaxies
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Hubble (/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html)
March 18, 2016
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In October 2013 Hubble kicked off the Frontier Fields program
(http://www.spacetelescope.org/forscientists/announcements/sci13006/), a three-year
series of observations aiming to produce the deepest ever views of the Universe. The
projects targets comprise six massive galaxy clusters, enormous collections of hundreds
or even thousands of galaxies. These structures are the largest gravitationally-bound
objects in the cosmos.
One of the Frontier Fields targets is shown in this new image: MACS J0717.5+3745, or
MACS J0717 for short. MACS J0717 is located about 5.4 billion light-years away from
Tags: Chandra X-Ray Observatory (/mission_pages/chandra/main/index.html), Galaxies
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Hubble (/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html)
March 17, 2016
Hubble (/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html)
March 11, 2016
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6/3/16
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Peering deep into the early universe, this picturesque parallel field
(http://frontierfields.org/2014/01/10/cluster-and-parallel-fields-two-for-the-price-of-one-2/)
observation from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reveals thousands of colorful
galaxies swimming in the inky blackness of space. A few foreground stars from our own
galaxy, the Milky Way, are also visible.
In October 2013 Hubbles Wide Field Camera 3
(https://www.spacetelescope.org/about/general/instruments/wfc3/) (WFC3) and Advanced
Camera for Surveys (https://www.spacetelescope.org/about/general/instruments/acs/)
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Hubble (/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html)
March 4, 2016
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Showcased at the center of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is an
emission-line star known as IRAS 12196-6300.
Located just under 2,300 light-years from Earth, this star displays prominent emission
lines, meaning that the stars light, dispersed into a spectrum, shows up as a rainbow of
colors marked with a characteristic pattern of dark and bright lines. The characteristics of
these lines, when compared to the fingerprints left by particular atoms and molecules,
can be used to reveal IRAS 12196-6300s chemical composition.
Under 10 million years old and not yet burning hydrogen at its core, unlike the sun, this star
Tags: Goddard Space Flight Center (/centers/goddard/home/index.html), Hubble Space
Telescope (/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html), Image of the Day
(/multimedia/imagegallery/iotd.html), Stars (/subject/6892/stars), Universe
(/topics/solarsystem/index.html)
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Hubble (/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html)
Feb. 26, 2016
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Sparkling at the center of this beautiful NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is a
WolfRayet star known as WR 31a, located about 30,000 light-years away in the
constellation of Carina (The Keel).
The distinctive blue bubble appearing to encircle WR 31a is a WolfRayet nebula an
interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen, helium and other gases. Created when speedy stellar
winds interact with the outer layers of hydrogen ejected by WolfRayet stars, these
nebulae are frequently ring-shaped or spherical. The bubble estimated to have formed
around 20,000 years ago is expanding at a rate of around 220,000 kilometers (136,700
Tags: Goddard Space Flight Center (/centers/goddard/home/index.html), Hubble Space
Telescope (/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html), Image of the Day
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Hubble (/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html)
Feb. 19, 2016
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Surrounded by an envelope of dust, the subject of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space
Telescope image is a young forming star known as HBC 1. The star is in an immature and
adolescent phase of life, while most of a sun-like stars life is spent in a stable stage
comparable to human adulthood.
In this view, HBC 1 illuminates a wispy reflection nebula known as IRAS 00044+6521.
Formed from clouds of interstellar dust, reflection nebulae do not emit any visible light of
their own. Instead, like fog encompassing a lamppost, they shine via the light reflected off
the dust from the stars embedded within. Though nearby stars cannot ionize the nebulas
Tags: Goddard Space Flight Center (/centers/goddard/home/index.html), Hubble Space
Telescope (/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html), Stars (/subject/6892/stars), Universe
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Read Full Article
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Jan. 6, 2016
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Page Last Updated: June 2, 2016
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