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Less expansion, more agreement

Nature volume 400, pages 111–112 (1999)Cite this article

We have known for 70 years that the Universe is expanding, but astronomers couldn't agree on how fast. We may be approaching — with 10% uncertainty — a consensus value. So is one of astronomy's greatest quests finally over?

Edwin Hubble got it wrong by an order of magnitude1, but claimed an uncertainty of 10%. Seventy years and much humble pie later, our knowledge of the value of the current rate of expansion of the Universe, H 0, may be approaching that degree of precision. At the American Astronomical Society meeting last monthFootnote 1, members of the Hubble Space Telescope Key Project team announced the results of their eight-year search for H 0.

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Figure 1: Edwin Hubble, who discovered that the Universe is expanding.

CORBIS / BETTMANN

Notes

  1. *American Astronomical Society Centennial Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, USA, 30 May to 3 June, 1999.

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  1. the Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, 14853, New York, USA

    Riccardo Giovanelli

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  1. Riccardo Giovanelli
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Giovanelli, R. Less expansion, more agreement. Nature 400, 111–112 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/21994

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