All articles tagged with #cosmic distance
The Hubble Space Telescope captured a stunning image of the spiral galaxy NGC 3370 in Leo, which is crucial for understanding galaxy formation and measuring cosmic distances using Cepheid variables and Type Ia supernovas, helping to refine our knowledge of the universe's expansion.
Voyager 1, traveling at over 61,000 km/h and now 444 light years from Earth, is projected to pass through the Pleiades star cluster in about 100 million years, although it will be an inert object with no active systems by then, highlighting the vastness of cosmic time and human achievement.
The James Webb Space Telescope is currently the most powerful telescope, capable of seeing 98% back to the Big Bang and observing galaxies up to 13.7 billion years old, thanks to its large mirror and infrared detectors, surpassing the capabilities of previous telescopes like Hubble.
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured an image of the spiral galaxy NGC 3285B in the Hydra constellation, highlighting a Type Ia supernova from 2023 that is aiding astronomers in refining measurements of cosmic distances and understanding the universe's expansion.
Astronomers have discovered that the acoustic oscillations of red giant stars at different ages can be used to more precisely measure cosmic distances, potentially offering a solution to the "Hubble tension" problem. This discovery could add a new rung to the cosmic distance ladder, as red giants at a critical point in their evolution can serve as "standard candles" for distance measurements. By distinguishing the ages of red giants, researchers hope to improve the accuracy of the Hubble constant measurement and gain new insights into the fundamental processes shaping the universe's evolution.
Astronomers have long been fascinated by measuring cosmic distances, with the Hubble constant at the center of this quest, representing the speed at which a galaxy would move away from us if it were 1 megaparsec distant.
New measurements of the Hubble Constant using data from the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes confirm its value, addressing the "Hubble tension" discrepancy. Scientists have employed various methods to calculate the constant, yielding differing values and highlighting the challenge in precisely determining it. The study rules out measurement error as the cause of the tension, suggesting the possibility of a fundamental misunderstanding of the Universe.