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James Webb telescope confirms there is something seriously wrong with our understanding of the universe (www.livescience.com)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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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.

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[–] [email protected] 58 points 7 months ago (19 children)

I just want our universe to be cyclic, heat death is depressing

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (6 children)

If it makes you feel better, if ideas about multiple universes end up being real, it's possible a sufficiently advanced species might be able to "hop" universes and escape heat death that way

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Not if all the universes began at the same moment.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Sure

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