Data collected by the Hubble Space Telescope over three decades has led Nasa scientists to the startling conclusion there is “something weird” going on with the universe.
Astronomers have used the device in a bid to understand how quickly the universe is expanding.
Data from Hubble, which was launched in 1990, has helped identify 40 "milepost markers” for space and time to measure the rate.
But Nasa scientists are baffled as there seems to be a discrepancy between its current rate when compared to observations from after the Big Bang, said to have been around 14 billion years ago.
The organisation said in a statement: “Pursuit of the universe's expansion rate began in the 1920s with measurements by astronomers Edwin P. Hubble and Georges Lemaître.
“In 1998, this led to the discovery of "dark energy," a mysterious repulsive force accelerating the universe's expansion.
“In recent years, thanks to data from Hubble and other telescopes, astronomers found another twist: a discrepancy between the expansion rate as measured in the local universe compared to independent observations from right after the big bang, which predict a different expansion value.
“The cause of this discrepancy remains a mystery. But Hubble data, encompassing a variety of cosmic objects that serve as distance markers, support the idea that something weird is going on, possibly involving brand new physics.”
Using the data, astronomers predicted the universe will double in size in the next ten billion years.
Teams are continuing to untangle the data to discover the secrets of the universe.
Adam Riess of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) and the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, added: “You are getting the most precise measure of the expansion rate for the universe from the gold standard of telescopes and cosmic mile markers,
“Actually, I don't care what the expansion value is specifically, but I like to use it to learn about the universe.”
The user, who posts under the name @realtiktoktimetraveller also claimed that humans will make contact with an alien race this summer and that a hacker is coming to close down millions of social media accounts because they are against the platform.
The warnings read: "Many people still don't believe me. I am a real time traveller from the year 2236 and I have come to this date and time to warn you about the upcoming events this year.
"On July 7th, humans are going to have their first real contact with an alien species called 'Arzax' on the south side of Alaska, United States.
"On August 13th, a hacker by the name of 'Stak' will delete over 36.7million TikTok accounts due to their strong beliefs against social media.
"On October 12th, there will be a deadly meteor named 'the Dracnoids' which will hit Europe causing many casualties."
