Washington DC: Scientists found that the universe is expanding faster than it was believed to be. The new finding was based on data from the American space agency NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, and it was learned that the universe is expanding 8 per cent faster than believed before, Reuters reported.
According to scientists, this is because of the involvement of mysterious cosmic components such as dark energy and dark matter. The discrepancy between the new finding and the older perception based on what scientists know of the initial conditions in the cosmos and its evolution over billions of years is called the Hubble Tension.
Reuters reported that the fresh observations using Webb ruled out the belief that the data from Hubble was flawed due to instrument error.
The lead author of the latest findings, astrophysicist Adam Riess of Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, said that the universe is currently expanding faster than the best-known theories can explain.
The findings and its report were published in the Astrophysical Journal on December 9.
A 2011 Nobel laureate, Riess, said, "Yes, it appears there is something missing in our understanding of the universe. "Our understanding of the universe contains a lot of ignorance about two elements - dark matter and dark energy - and these make up 96% of the universe, so this is no small matter," Reuters quoted.
Siyang Li, a Johns Hopkins doctoral student in astronomy and astrophysics and a study co-author, said that the results from James Webb's data could be interpreted to suggest there may be a need to revise the available model of the universe.