New results strengthen the “Hubble tension,” hinting at the need for rethinking our model of the universe

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Researchers using time-delay cosmography independently confirmed that the universe’s current rate of expansion, known as the Hubble constant (H₀), does not match values predicted from measurements from the universe when it was much younger. This “Hubble tension” may point to new physics governing the universe. Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory / Adam Makarenko

Maunakea, Hawaiʻi – A team of astronomers using a variety of ground and space-based telescopes including the W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, Hawaiʻi Island, have made one of the most precise independent measurements yet of how fast the universe is expanding, further deepening the divide on one of the biggest mysteries in modern cosmology.

Using data gathered from Keck Observatory’s Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI) as well as NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) the Very Large Telescope (VLT), and European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO) researchers have independently confirmed that the universe’s current rate of expansion, known as the Hubble constant (H₀), does not match values predicted from measurements from the universe when it was much younger.

The finding strengthens what scientists call the “Hubble tension,” a cosmic disagreement that may point to new physics governing the universe.

“What many scientists are hoping is that this may be the beginning of a new cosmological model,” said Tommaso Treu, Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California Los Angeles and one of the authors of the study published in Astronomy and Astrophysics.

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