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Calculating the Hubble Constant through Galaxy Imaging

Published onJun 01, 2020
Calculating the Hubble Constant through Galaxy Imaging

The origin, the age, and the fate of the universe continues to be a heated debate in cosmology. The Hubble Constant is the most important number to understand the expansion rate and fate of the universe. The purpose of my project is to determine the current Hubble Constant. To conduct my research I operated multiple optical telescopes affiliated with The Las Cumbres observatory to observe 200 galaxies. I calculated the distance and recessional velocities of these galaxies using two distance methods, to plot a Hubble diagram. The Hubble constant plot showed that galaxies are receding from each other indicating the expansion of our universe. The current average expansion rate of the universe was calculated to be 75.6 km/s/Mpc. My calculations suggest that our universe’s expansion has accelerated since 1989 when Hubble calculated the expansion rate of our universe to be 70 km/s/mpc. This indicates the presence of an invisible force that repels gravity, which has been theorized to be Dark Energy. Based on my data and calculations I theorize that our universe has the shape of an open universe and will continue to expand at an accelerated rate until it reaches a point in which it cannot sustain life anymore, therefore resulting in the Big Freeze.

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