They solve cosmology’s biggest mystery by discovering an unusual supernova.

The magnitude of the expansion rate of the Universe could be determined using an alternative method based on the gravitationally deformed light of a Type Ia supernova.

An international team of astronomers has found evidence that confirms the value of the Hubble constant, considered the greatest mystery of cosmology.which may contradict current methods for determining the rate of expansion of the Universe, NASA reports.

The Hubble constant is a measurement that indicates the current rate at which astronomical objects are moving away from each other due to the expansion of the Universe. This is faster than the astronomical community expected..

Measurements taken in the early Universe, that is, deep away from Earth, show that the rate of expansion matches the current model of the evolution of the Universe, while those taken closer to our planet challenge concepts of cosmology as we know it.

The opinion has come that to solve this riddle it is necessary to propose “new physics”that is, a more complete theoretical model than exists to explain this phenomenon. However, the possibility of errors in the two methods currently used to measure the expansion of the Universe has also been considered.

Scientists have used the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes to obtain precise measurements that help confirm the hypothesis that other phenomena, such as the event of the expansion of the universe, influence the rate of expansion of the universe. dark energy.

Confirmation of the Hubble Constant

In various papers, mostly published in The Astrophysical Journal, it was possible to calculate the Hubble constant using an alternative method based on gravitationally deformed light from a Type Ia supernova. located in the G165 galaxy cluster, at a distance of 3.6 billion light years from Earth.

Supernovae Ia are born from the thermonuclear explosion of white dwarf stars that have used up the fuel in their cores. The distances of the Universe, and therefore the value of the Hubble constant, can be measured by comparing the actual brightness of these astronomical objects with their apparent brightness.

Experts have assured that the value of the Hubble constant is equal to 75.4 kilometers per second per megaparsec (km/s/Mpc)which contradicts the values ​​of previous models (67 and 73.2 km/s/Mpc, respectively). This result was obtained by studying and comparing three different points of light from Supernova Ia with different gravitational lensing models.

“The results of our team are amazing. The value of the Hubble constant matches other measurements in the local Universe and is somewhat inconsistent with values ​​obtained when the Universe was young,” said researcher Brenda Fry.