Edwin hubble

  • Edwin Hubble, known as the father of modern cosmology, revolutionized our understanding of the universe.
  • He discovered that nebulae are at great distances, outside our Milky Way.
  • He established Hubble's law, which describes the expansion of the universe and the relationship between galaxies.
  • His research on dark energy and exoplanets opens new frontiers in astronomy.
Germán Portillo

6 minutes

Contributions on the expansion of the Hubble universe

In this blog we have already talked about numerous topics related to astronomy. Among them we find the solar system, Mars, Mercury, (Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, etc. However, we haven't yet talked about the scientists who have advanced this science thanks to their discoveries. Therefore, today we bring you the biography of Edwin Powell Hubble. This is a scientist known as the father of modern cosmology and who has made a number of important discoveries.

Do you want to know all of Edwin Hubble's contributions to astronomy? In this post you can find out everything. Just keep reading 

Edwin Hubble Overview

Hubble work

The discoveries of this scientist are those that have revolutionized the way of looking at the universe. He was born in 1889 and, although it seems a bit crazy, he started in the world of the lawyer. The laws of justice had little to do with the laws of physics and the universe. However, several years later, he returned to obtain a doctorate in astronomy. Thanks to the use of the telescope, Edwin Hubble He was able to discover a multitude of new galaxies in 1920, including the irregular galaxies.

Until that moment it was only thought that we were in a finite universe where the limit lay in the Milky Way. Thanks to the discovery of many others, the understanding of the universe became easier. The human being It is by no means the center of the universe. What's more, we are nothing more than small fleas within a large territory.

Most important discoveries

Edwin hubble

One of the observations he made showed that the nebulae they were at an enormous distance. This research was done in 1925 and that is when it was seen that the nebulae were almost a million light years away and that, therefore, they could not be part of the Milky Way.

Another of the most important discoveries that Hubble had was after the investigation of the various Cepheid stars found in the Andromeda Nebula. Andromeda is our neighboring galaxy that will inevitably end up swallowing us within billions of years, a phenomenon that is related to the Great Attractor.

Already at this time there were great discoveries about super massive black holes and the theory that all galaxies in the universe have one of them at their center. Yes, as you are reading. Those super massive black holes capable of swallowing everything around and making it disappear is what governs the center of the Milky Way, our galaxy. However, there is nothing to worry about. The disappearance of human life is present in a multitude of ways. Or because of the disasters of climate change, the end of the life of the Sun, the fall of a meteorite, solar storms, etc.

All this was discovered by Hubble in the year 1920. By learning more about the dynamics of the universe, he was able to see how the universe is expanding and from there comes the Hubble constant, which is the one used in physics and astronomy to describe the expansion rate of the universe.

Hubble space telescope
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Hubble space telescope

Contributions to astronomy

Hubble discoveries

Thanks to the creation of the Hubble constant, it has been possible to calculate how long the universe has been expanding in order to know its age. Big Bang Theory tells us that the known universe began from a great explosion that released a large amount of contained energy. The age of the universe is 13.500 billion years and this was discovered by Edwin Hubble.

In addition, with this data he discovered that the universe contains dark energy. This type of energy is the cause that galaxies are constantly separating from each other. It is also the one that "pushes" the galaxies so that the universe continues to expand continuously.

Edwin Hubble has managed to capture the first phases that a planet has when it begins to form. This data was obtained thanks to the taking of different images of a disk of dust and gas that exists around a newly born star and that acquires more density. When an object acquires more density, it allows the other objects around it to be grouped little by little by an increase in the force of gravity. This is how a planet is built.

For Hubble, one of his greatest contributions to science was the discovery of the organic molecule in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, which opens the door to future studies on the universe and its wonders.

Edwin Hubble's theory

Hubble Bio

Now we will go on to describe in depth what is the theory that made Edwin Hubble famous. And is that his theory is the protagonist of Hubble's law, which is what explains that all galaxies move away from each other at a speed proportional to their distance. This movement is due to the fact that the explosion that took place with the origin of the universe during the Big Bang, continues to release energy.

There is no force of gravity or friction in the universe. Therefore, if there is nothing to stop the force that drives the Big Bang, the universe will continue to expand and with this, the galaxies will continue to move at a constant speed.

By means of the comparisons between the different galaxies that he discovered he was able to establish the magnitudes of linear relation to add in Hubble's law. From these discoveries he drew the conclusion that the universe has a homogeneous composition.

Thanks to the contributions of Hubble on the expansion of the constant universe, today it is known that If we observe our galaxy from anywhere in the universe it will always look the same. This is due to the permanent expansion that the universe experiences.

Both his theory and all his studies and research have had great repercussions on astronomy and cosmology today. The evolution of galaxies, calculating the age of the universe, the rate of expansion it has and all the subjects related to deep space have their place thanks to Edwin Hubble.

The galaxy we live in is called the Milky Way. Surely you already knew that. But how much do you know about this galaxy we live in? There are millions of characteristics, curiosities and corners that make the Milky Way a special galaxy. It is our heavenly home after all, since it is where the Solar System and all the planets we know are located. The galaxy we live in is packed with stars, supernovae, nebulae, energy, and dark matter. However, there are many things that still remain a mystery to scientists. We are going to tell you many things about the Milky Way, from its characteristics to curiosities and mysteries. Profile of the Milky Way This is the galaxy that forms our home in the universe. Its morphology is quite typical of a spiral with 4 main arms on its disk. It is made up of billions of stars of all types and sizes. One of those stars is the Sun. It is thanks to the Sun that we exist and life has been formed as we know it. The center of the galaxy is at a distance of 26.000 light years from our planet. It is not known for sure if there could be more, but it is known that at least one supermassive hole is in the center of the Milky Way. The black hole becomes the center of our galaxy and has been named Sagittarius A. Our galaxy began to form about 13.000 million years ago and is part of a group of 50 galaxies known as the Local Group. Our neighboring galaxy, called Andromeda, is also part of this group of smaller galaxies, which also includes the Magellanic Clouds. It is still a classification made by the human being. A species that, if you analyze the context of the entire universe and its extension, is nothing. The Local Group mentioned above is itself part of a vastly larger gathering of galaxies. It is called the Virgo supercluster. The name of our galaxy is named after the luminous band that we can see of stars and gas clouds that extend above our sky through the Earth. Although the Earth is inside the Milky Way, we cannot have as complete an understanding of the nature of the galaxy as some outer star systems can. Much of the galaxy is hidden by a thick layer of interstellar dust. This dust does not allow optical telescopes to focus well and discover what is there. We can determine the structure by using telescopes with radio waves or infrared. However, we cannot know with complete certainty what is in the region where interstellar dust is found. We can only detect the forms of radiation that are penetrating dark matter. Main characteristics We are going to analyze a little the main characteristics of the Milky Way. The first thing we will analyze is the dimension. It is shaped like a barred spiral and has a diameter of 100.000-180.000 light years. As mentioned before, the distance to the center of the galaxy is approximately 26.000 light years. This distance is something that human beings will never be able to travel with the life expectancy and technology that we have today. The age of formation is estimated at 13.600 billion years, about 400 million years after the Big Bang (link). The number of stars that this galaxy has is difficult to count. We cannot go one by one counting all the stars there are, since it is not very useful to know exactly. There are an estimated 400.000 billion stars in the Milky Way alone. One of the curiosities that this galaxy has is that it is almost flat. People who argue that the Earth is flat will be proud that this is so too. And it is that the galaxy is 100.000 light years wide but only 1.000 light years thick. It is as if it were a flattened and twisted disk where the planets are embedded in curved arms of gas and dust. Something like that is the solar system, a group of planets and dust with the Sun at the center anchored 26.000 light-years from the turbulent center of the galaxy. Who discovered the Milky Way? It is difficult to know for sure who has discovered the Milky Way. It is known that Galileo Galilei (link) was the first to recognize the existence of a band of light in our galaxy as individual stars in the year 1610. This was the first real test that began when the astronomer pointed his first telescope at the sky and could see that our galaxy is made up of innumerable stars. As early as 1920, Edwin Hubble (link) was the one who provided enough evidence to know that the spiral nebulae in the sky were actually entire galaxies. This fact greatly helped to understand the true nature and shape of the Milky Way. This also helped to discover the true size and to know the scale of the universe in which we are immersed. We are also not entirely sure how many stars the Milky Way has, but it is also not very interesting to know. Counting them is an impossible task. Astronomers try to find the best way to do it. However, telescopes can only see one star brighter than others. Many of the stars are hidden behind the clouds of gas and dust that we mentioned earlier. One of the techniques they use to estimate the number of stars is to observe how fast the stars are orbiting within the galaxy. This somewhat indicates the gravitational pull and mass. Dividing the mass of the galaxy by the average size of a star, we will have the answer.
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Milky Way

As you can see, this scientist who began as a lawyer has made numerous and important contributions to science.


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