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Sometimes, when scientists measure things differently, they get different results. Whenever that happens with something as crucial to humanity\u2019s long-term future as the universe\u2019s expansion rate, it can draw much attention. Scientists have thought for decades that there has been such a difference, known as the Hubble Tension, in measurements of the speed at which the universe is expanding. However, a new paper by researchers at the University of Chicago and the Carnegie Institution for Science using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) suggests that there wasn\u2019t any difference at all.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n To understand this more, let\u2019s first look at the Hubble tension. Edwin Hubble, the namesake of the Hubble Space Telescope, JWST\u2019s predecessor, first found the universe was expanding when he looked at the speed at which galaxies travel. He found galaxies that were farther away from us were traveling faster than those nearest to us, and the best answer that we have as to why is that the universe itself is expanding.<\/p>\n It does not do so on a scale that we would notice in our daily lives, but on the scale of the space between galaxies, it is definitely noticeable, and in a number of ways. Historically, there have been two different ways to measure this Hubble Constant, as the rate of expansion is known. One involved studying the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), and one involved looking at the speed of galaxies, as Hubble did.<\/p>\n \n