WEBVTT FILE 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:10.440 What has Hubble helped to reveal about the expansion of the universe? 2 00:00:10.440 --> 00:00:14.560 One of the primary goals for the Hubble space telescope when it was launched 3 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:19.820 was to refine the measurement of the rate of the expansion of the universe. 4 00:00:19.820 --> 00:00:23.260 And Hubble has done that marvelously for us. 5 00:00:23.260 --> 00:00:28.940 But a surprise came a few years ago, scientists using Hubble and also telescopes on the ground 6 00:00:28.940 --> 00:00:35.080 realized that the expansion rate of the universe is actually getting faster. 7 00:00:35.080 --> 00:00:40.260 And as we look at very distant galaxies using these sensitive instruments we can tell that the 8 00:00:40.260 --> 00:00:44.000 universe expansion has not always been uniform. 9 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:53.380 Toward the beginning of our universe's expansion it was decelerating now it's accelerating. 10 00:00:53.380 --> 00:01:00.440 So Hubble is now being used to refine even further that expansion rate of the universe, 11 00:01:00.440 --> 00:01:05.740 and trying to compare that to what might be predicted, from looking at other measurements of the universe 12 00:01:05.740 --> 00:01:07.140 with other telescopes. 13 00:01:07.140 --> 00:01:12.100 Right now we're finding a discrepancy between what we might have expected and what we're actually measuring. 14 00:01:12.100 --> 00:01:17.200 So that's one realm where Hubble is really at the cutting edge of helping us understand 15 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:22.600 or at least open up new mysteries of the universe. 16 00:01:22.600 --> 00:01:34.160 [ INTENSE MUSIC ]