James Webb telescope confirms there is something seriously wrong with our understanding of the universe
James Webb telescope confirms there is something seriously wrong with our understanding of the universe
Depending on where we look, the universe is expanding at different rates. Now, scientists using the James Webb and Hubble space telescopes have confirmed that the observation is not down to a measurement error.
Astronomers have used the James Webb and Hubble space telescopes to confirm one of the most troubling conundrums in all of physics — that the universe appears to be expanding at bafflingly different speeds depending on where we look.
This problem, known as the Hubble Tension, has the potential to alter or even upend cosmology altogether. In 2019, measurements by the Hubble Space Telescope confirmed the puzzle was real; in 2023, even more precise measurements from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) cemented the discrepancy.
Now, a triple-check by both telescopes working together appears to have put the possibility of any measurement error to bed for good. The study, published February 6 in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, suggests that there may be something seriously wrong with our understanding of the universe.
Yesssss I yearn for new physics
The prospect of irregular and unpredictable physics gives me anxiety
This article https://nautil.us/chaos-makes-the-multiverse-unnecessary-236664/ made me very uncomfortable back when it was published. It takes what you say to the philosophical limit.
As a science bitch I’ve never believed in the Big Bang… I think everything has always been and will always be and it goes on forever in every direction and when I think about that my feet feel weird
If I remember correctly, that's basically the Einstein - de Sitter universe, one of the early cosmological models. Einstein also didn't like the accelerated growth of the universe, he called the cosmological constant (what's now known as dark energy) a big mistake.
So when you run that model backwards a few billion years in your head then what do you think that looked like? I don't follow what you mean.
The best moments in science are when we say, “wait, this doesn’t work.”
That's exactly the opposite of how religion works and the reason why I firmly believe that there should be a clear separation between state and church.
People can believe in whatever delusions they want as long as they don't force them on me.
But they always do, always, everywhere.
Even France which prides itself on it's secularism is getting pounded. The US is delusional, "In God We Trust" ? Really, fuck that guy...
If you have church, it's always church and state.
Wouldn't that just be forcing your view of separation of church and state on everyone else?
/s
I just want our universe to be cyclic, heat death is depressing
Even though I won't be there for it, somehow heat death makes me very sad.
Related, The Last Question by Isaac Asimov is a fantastic, timeless science fiction short story.
I feel the same. Even if myself, my kids, earth, even the human race as we know it won't be there anymore, it's kind of sad. Slow inevitable doom. Carpe diem I guess.
On a cosmic scale, I find it kind of comforting that everything is eventually going to be gone. It makes it more important to enjoy one's time in the now.
The problem with this idea is that everything was already gone before the universe started, and here we are.
It could still be "gone" in the sense that nothing of this universe exists in its present state. Maybe it will collapse in on itself and a new Big Stretch will occur, and a new universe with new physical laws and new matter/energy will begin.
Maybe that's how it's always been. But whether it is finite or infinite, cyclical or linear, we will most certainly end, and that's a good enough reason to live in the moment.
Considering we don’t understand dark energy and dark matter. I hold hope that there are other possibilities.
However, all hail the god of entropy. The one thing that dictates and impacts every moment of our existence
This doesn't help at all but last I checked heat death was out and big freeze is in (spreading out to such a level that subatomic particles pull apart into basically nothingness).
This was kind of the whole point of the JWST so it's a good thing!
Damn, the beings running the ancestor sinulation must have downloaded a new patch.
Should have sent it to QA, instead of making the devs do their own.
I actually had no idea that an irregularly expanding universe was the conflicting theory.
From my armchair astrophysicist perspective, I just assumed it couldn't be a perfect sphere due to the background radiation map.
Obviously scientific method and all, but this is super cool that for realisies it might change some minds.
The summary is a lie. The crisis isn't over it expanding differently in different places. It's that two measurement methods give different results.
I think it's important to add that those two different methods are on vastly different length scales
Maybe we'll someday discover something as wacky as a "Strong Universal Material Force" that counteracts high energy expansion the same way the Strong Force keeps atoms together.
I guess going by CMB radiation isn't that reliable, since the speed of light is a constant, but we don't know squat about dark energy
plus, something as big as the universe, gotta make allowances for the butterfly effectThere's a weird theory that says speed of light is not a constant. Older measurements have discrepancies.
Is it because our universe is actually some type of organism and it has growth in different areas more than others?
The summary is misleading. We have two ways of calculating expansion that, according to our current understanding, should arrive at the same answer, but they're off by about 10%. It's more a question of how we look than where.
Edit: corrected "title" to "summary"
🤦