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The universe, everything contained in it, is expanding. Thus, every galaxy, cluster of stars and other bodies of this type are distant from each other and this lasts since their existence 13.8 billion years ago.
There is evidence of this stretching of the universe, according to an MIT study. Astronomers can measure this by pointing their telescopes at stars and other celestial bodies. They have two parameters by which they can measure this expansion – their distance from the Earth, and the speed at which they are moving away.
These two pieces of information come in the measure of the Hubble constant – a unit that describes the speed to
Although the concept of Hubble's constant has been around for quite some time now, it's not the same. There is no real number that denotes it. The actual rate of expansion of the universe has supported a number of different values over time and so there is no "definitive resolution on how fast the universe grows up, "says the study.
Such an important number, the researchers believe that it could illuminate the very origins of the universe and describe if the expansion is undefined or if the cosmos is collapsing .
Scientists at MIT and Harvard University have proposed a precise and independent way of measuring the Hubble constant or the actual expansion of the universe. The idea is to use the gravitational waves emitted by a black star binary neutron.
This is a rare pair, but extremely energetic, consisting of a spiral neutron star and a black hole, says the research paper. By getting closer to each other, they produce space-agitated gravitational waves accompanied by a powerful flash of light as they collide.
Researchers say this flash of light could provide an estimate of the speed of the system and a measure of how fast the binary is away from the Earth's point of view. Gravitational waves, emitted by the fast spin of the neutron star and the black hole, if detected on Earth, should provide an accurate measure of their distance. Thus, providing the two parameters required to measure the Hubble constant.
That said, the report points out that black hole neutron star binaries are incredibly rare. The researchers, however, add that the detection of a few should give the most accurate value ever calculated for the Hubble constant.
Salvatore Vitale, of MIT, lead author of the paper says, "If we detect one [Black hole-neutron star binary] the price is that they can potentially make a dramatic contribution to our understanding of the world." universe. "
The study was published for the first time in the journal Physical Review Letters.
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