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Accelerated expansion of the Universe
The Universe is expanding, and the rate of expansion is increasing.
The cosmic expansion was discovered in 1920s by Edwin Hubble, who made the historic observation that distant stars and galaxies are moving away at faster rates than the closer ones. Since the discovery it had been believed that the expansion was slowing down, because the force of gravity only pulls matters in the Universe inward. However, two independent teams of astronomers who were looking at distant supernovae both reported separately in 1998 that the expansion of the Universe was instead accelerating. The mechanism of the accelerating expansion is not yet unveiled.
The cosmic expansion was discovered in 1920s by Edwin Hubble, who made the historic observation that distant stars and galaxies are moving away at faster rates than the closer ones. Since the discovery it had been believed that the expansion was slowing down, because the force of gravity only pulls matters in the Universe inward. However, two independent teams of astronomers who were looking at distant supernovae both reported separately in 1998 that the expansion of the Universe was instead accelerating. The mechanism of the accelerating expansion is not yet unveiled.
