Space & Astronomy

New study confirms that the expansion of the universe is still accelerating

By T.K. Randall
June 17, 2026

Image Credit: (PD) NASA/ESA/ESO/Wolfram Freudling et al via Wikimedia Commons Back in 1929, Edwin Hubble - the man after which the Hubble Space Telescope is named - observationally confirmed that the universe is not static but is in fact constantly expanding.

More recently, observations by modern telescopes have indicated that the universe isn't just expanding but is actually doing so at an ever accelerating rate.

That is not to say that there hasn't been some uncertainty over this, however, with some other recent studies arguing that the expansion may not be accelerating at all (or may even be slowing down).

We still don't understand why the universe's expansion is accelerating, though a mysterious and dominant form of energy known as dark energy is thought to be the main driver of it.

Now, a new study has succeeded in confirming, once again, that the rate of expansion is increasing.To determine this, researchers observed objects known as Type Ia supernovas and measured their brightness to determine distance.

"Type Ia supernovae are the premier tool for measuring the expansion history of the universe, and provided the first evidence in 1998 that cosmic expansion is accelerating due to dark energy," said study co-author and astrophysicist Adam Riess of Johns Hopkins University in Maryland.

The question is - will the universe expand at an accelerating rate forever ? Will it ever slow down ?

Also, if it doesn't, what will ultimately become of the cosmos ?

To these questions, we currently have no answers.

Source: Reuters

Tags: Universe