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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Hubble Space Telescope observations have been used to make an independent measurement of the expansion rate of the universe [spacetelescope.org]:

The Hubble constant [wikipedia.org] — the rate at which the Universe is expanding — is one of the fundamental quantities describing our Universe. A group of astronomers from the H0LiCOW [github.io] collaboration, led by Sherry Suyu (associated with the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics [mpa-garching.mpg.de] in Germany, the ASIAA [sinica.edu.tw] in Taiwan and the Technical University of Munich), used the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and other telescopes in space and on the ground to observe five galaxies in order to arrive at an independent measurement of the Hubble constant.

The new measurement is completely independent of — but in excellent agreement with — other measurements of the Hubble constant in the local Universe that used Cepheid [wikipedia.org] variable stars and supernovae [wikipedia.org] as points of reference [heic1611 [spacetelescope.org]].

However, the value measured by Suyu and her team, as well as those measured using Cepheids and supernovae, are different from the measurement made by the ESA Planck satellite [esa.int]. But there is an important distinction — Planck measured the Hubble constant for the early Universe by observing the cosmic microwave background [wikipedia.org].

While the value for the Hubble constant determined by Planck fits with our current understanding of the cosmos, the values obtained by the different groups of astronomers for the local Universe are in disagreement with our accepted theoretical model of the Universe. "The expansion rate of the Universe is now starting to be measured in different ways with such high precision that actual discrepancies may possibly point towards new physics beyond our current knowledge of the Universe," elaborates Suyu.

Also at Astronomy Magazine [astronomy.com].

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