Discoveries made by the Hubble Telescope.
Age of the Cosmos,
In the 1920's astronomer Edwin Hubble made the observation that the universe has been expanding since its creation in the Big Bang. Since that, observation was made there has been a lot of debate on how fast the cosmos is expanding. This speed would later become to be known as the Hubble Constant. In May 1999 a team of astronomers announced that they had found what they believed to be the value of the Hubble constant. With this value, scientists have been able to determine the size and the age of the universe. This was done by measuring the distance to 18 galaxies, some as far as 65 million light- years from Earth. After obtaining the value of the Hubble constant, the team then estimated that the universe is 12 to 14 Billion years old. Later is April 2002 another team of astronomers announced that they had used a different age dating technique which gave a similar result as to was found in 1999. The team based their estimate on Hubble telescope observations of the oldest faintest burnt out stars. These stars are known as white dwarfs. These extremely old dim stars provide a completely independent reading on the age of the universe without relying on measurements of the expansion rate of the cosmos. Despite the extreme differences in measurement techniques both of these inquiries returned very similar results. Because of the second findings made possible by the Hubble telescope we have a much better understanding of the age and size of the Cosmos.
Dark Matter,
While photographing a cluster of galaxies known as ZwCl0024+1652 the Hubble telescope discovered something strange. There appeared to be a ghostly ring of black matter surrounding the cluster. It was initially considered to be a glitch caused by a technological fault within Hubble."I was annoyed when I saw the ring because I thought it was an artefact" said Myungkook James Jee of Hohn Hopkins University. However after further investigation it was discovered that the pictures were accurate. The astronomers studying the picture then came to the conclusion that the rings were made up of the mysterious matter known as dark matter. This material is thought to make up a large majority of gravity exerting mass in the universe. Dark matter is essentially the glue that holds the universe together. Without dark matter universes like the Milky way would have already long ago drifted apart. Because of the sheer amount of dark matter residing in the ring it bends the light around it to create the ripple effect. This effect of bending the light is the only way dark matter is ever visible as it doesn't reflect light or energy. The 2.6 Million light year wide ring was thought to have been created when two huge clusters of galaxies collided head on. The mysterious dark matter originally was flushed outwards creating the ring effect. Despite some scepticism within the Astronomy community about the picture investigations continued. What differed this finding from other dark matter findings was that this was the first collection of dark matter that greatly differs from the distribution of the ordinary matter. To further the understanding of the rings, the team also created computer simulations of the collision of galaxy clusters. Which clearly showed the dark matter surging inwards initially and then sloshing outwards creating the separate ring of dark matter? This proves more conclusively that the rings are not just an accidental shape caused by the telescope malfunctioning but an important discovery into the mysterious material that makes up most of our universe. The experiment provided much-needed insight on how dark matter works and how it reacts to gravity which will help to further out knowledge of our cosmos.
Speed of our Universe,
During the Hubble Telescopes viewings of space the telescope identified the most further stellar explosion to date. The explosion was a supernova that erupted approximately 10 Billion years ago. By examining the glow from this dying star astronomers found the first observable evidence that gravity began to flow down the expansion of the universe after the Big Bang. This finding which was made in 2001 reinforced the concept that our Universe has only recently began to speed up in expansion. This discovery was made when unusually dim light of several very distant supernovas suggested that the universe is expanding more quickly than it has in the past. The cause of this acceleration is currently unknown. However the main theory amongst reputable scientists is that there is currently an extremely powerful repulsive force at work in the universe. This force is causing galaxies to push away from each other at a speed much greater earlier rates. The force is currently known as dark energy. This finding was very important as it proved that our universe is still getting bigger and bigger at a previously unseen rate. The results also proved Einstein's Theory of Relativity, which stated that, "That space and time are a geometrical structure which can be changed by the behaviour of the matter inside it".
In the 1920's astronomer Edwin Hubble made the observation that the universe has been expanding since its creation in the Big Bang. Since that, observation was made there has been a lot of debate on how fast the cosmos is expanding. This speed would later become to be known as the Hubble Constant. In May 1999 a team of astronomers announced that they had found what they believed to be the value of the Hubble constant. With this value, scientists have been able to determine the size and the age of the universe. This was done by measuring the distance to 18 galaxies, some as far as 65 million light- years from Earth. After obtaining the value of the Hubble constant, the team then estimated that the universe is 12 to 14 Billion years old. Later is April 2002 another team of astronomers announced that they had used a different age dating technique which gave a similar result as to was found in 1999. The team based their estimate on Hubble telescope observations of the oldest faintest burnt out stars. These stars are known as white dwarfs. These extremely old dim stars provide a completely independent reading on the age of the universe without relying on measurements of the expansion rate of the cosmos. Despite the extreme differences in measurement techniques both of these inquiries returned very similar results. Because of the second findings made possible by the Hubble telescope we have a much better understanding of the age and size of the Cosmos.
Dark Matter,
While photographing a cluster of galaxies known as ZwCl0024+1652 the Hubble telescope discovered something strange. There appeared to be a ghostly ring of black matter surrounding the cluster. It was initially considered to be a glitch caused by a technological fault within Hubble."I was annoyed when I saw the ring because I thought it was an artefact" said Myungkook James Jee of Hohn Hopkins University. However after further investigation it was discovered that the pictures were accurate. The astronomers studying the picture then came to the conclusion that the rings were made up of the mysterious matter known as dark matter. This material is thought to make up a large majority of gravity exerting mass in the universe. Dark matter is essentially the glue that holds the universe together. Without dark matter universes like the Milky way would have already long ago drifted apart. Because of the sheer amount of dark matter residing in the ring it bends the light around it to create the ripple effect. This effect of bending the light is the only way dark matter is ever visible as it doesn't reflect light or energy. The 2.6 Million light year wide ring was thought to have been created when two huge clusters of galaxies collided head on. The mysterious dark matter originally was flushed outwards creating the ring effect. Despite some scepticism within the Astronomy community about the picture investigations continued. What differed this finding from other dark matter findings was that this was the first collection of dark matter that greatly differs from the distribution of the ordinary matter. To further the understanding of the rings, the team also created computer simulations of the collision of galaxy clusters. Which clearly showed the dark matter surging inwards initially and then sloshing outwards creating the separate ring of dark matter? This proves more conclusively that the rings are not just an accidental shape caused by the telescope malfunctioning but an important discovery into the mysterious material that makes up most of our universe. The experiment provided much-needed insight on how dark matter works and how it reacts to gravity which will help to further out knowledge of our cosmos.
Speed of our Universe,
During the Hubble Telescopes viewings of space the telescope identified the most further stellar explosion to date. The explosion was a supernova that erupted approximately 10 Billion years ago. By examining the glow from this dying star astronomers found the first observable evidence that gravity began to flow down the expansion of the universe after the Big Bang. This finding which was made in 2001 reinforced the concept that our Universe has only recently began to speed up in expansion. This discovery was made when unusually dim light of several very distant supernovas suggested that the universe is expanding more quickly than it has in the past. The cause of this acceleration is currently unknown. However the main theory amongst reputable scientists is that there is currently an extremely powerful repulsive force at work in the universe. This force is causing galaxies to push away from each other at a speed much greater earlier rates. The force is currently known as dark energy. This finding was very important as it proved that our universe is still getting bigger and bigger at a previously unseen rate. The results also proved Einstein's Theory of Relativity, which stated that, "That space and time are a geometrical structure which can be changed by the behaviour of the matter inside it".