Over the decades, there have been numerous debates over the expansion of the universe. How quickly is the Universe is expanding? Whether its speed is faster than the speed of light or not? All these questions make people’s dilemma more acute. In 1998, researchers discovered that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate – a phenomenon believed to be due to a mysterious force that they called “Dark Energy”. At that time, scientists didn’t know much about this dark mysterious force, except that it may be the part of the universe.

 

Who Figured this out? – Expansion of the Universe

In 1925, the American astronomer, Edwin Hubble, was the first person to prove that the universe is expanding. His calculations showed that there is a direct connection between the speeds of distant galaxies and their distances from the Earth. This process is now known as Hubble’s law. And the single number that illustrates the cosmic expansion rate, relating to the recession velocities of external galaxies to their distance is known as “The Hubble Constant”.

The astronomers who studied the universe assumed that the rate of the universe’s expansion was slowing because of the effects of gravity. However, current study shows that the universe may expand to eternity.

Today, astronomers use what they call “a cosmic distance ladder” to measure the expansion rate of the universe. The universe is expanding quickly and it is doing so at the same rate in all directions. The universe began with the Big Bang, and is estimated to be approximately 13.7 billion years old. This figure is calculated by astronomers by measuring the composition of matter and energy density in the universe.

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