Is the Whole Universe Spinning?
New observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) suggest that a new feature in the Universe—not a flaw in telescope measurements—may be behind the decade-long mystery of why the Universe is expanding faster today than it did in its infancy billions of years ago. The new data confirms Hubble Space Telescope measurements of distances between nearby stars and galaxies, offering a crucial cross-check to address the mismatch in measurements of the Universe's mysterious expansion. Known as the Hubble Tension, the discrepancy remains unexplained even by the best cosmology models. This drawing is a representation of the evolution of the Universe over 13.77 billion years. The far left depicts the earliest moment we can now probe, when a period of "inflation" produced a burst of exponential growth in the Universe. (Size is depicted by the vertical extent of the grid in this graphic.) For the next several billion years, the expansion of the Universe gradually slowed down as the matter in the Universe pulled on itself via gravity. More recently, it appears that the expansion has begun to speed up again. (Image Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)
Is the Whole Universe Spinning?
A new study suggests the Universe may be rotating -- just imperceptibly slowly. This new finding could help solve one of astronomy’s biggest puzzles, the “Hubble Tension.” Current models say the Universe expands evenly in all directions, with no sign of rotation. This idea fits most of what astronomers observe. But it doesn’t explain the so-called Hubble Tension, a long-standing disagreement between two ways of measuring how fast the universe is expanding.
One method of measurement looks at distant exploding stars or supernovae to measure the distances to galaxies, and gives an expansion rate for the Universe throughout the past few billion years. The other method uses the relic radiation from the Big Bang and gives the expansion rate of the very early Universe, about 13 billion years ago. Each gives a different value for the expansion rate.
To try and reconcile this difference, István Szapudi of the University of Hawaiʻi at the Mānoa Institute for Astronomy and his team developed a mathematical model of the Universe. First, it followed standard rules. Then they added a tiny amount of rotation. That small change made a big difference.
“To paraphrase the Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus, who famously said ‘Panta Rhei’ (everything moves), we thought that perhaps Panta Kykloutai (everything turns)” said Szapudi.
“Much to our surprise, we found that our model with rotation resolves the paradox without contradicting current astronomical measurements. Even better, it is compatible with other models that assume rotation. Therefore, perhaps, everything really does turn. Or, Panta Kykloutai!” noted Szapudi.
Their model suggests the universe could rotate once every 500 billion years -- too slow to detect easily, but enough to affect how space expands over time.
The idea doesn’t break any known laws of physics. And it might explain why measurements of the Universe’s growth don’t quite agree.
Resolving the Hubble tension could reveal new insights and more discrepancies with the standard cosmological model that have come to light in recent years. The standard model explains the evolution of galaxies, cosmic microwave background from the big bang, the abundances of chemical elements in the universe, and many other key observations based on the known laws of physics. However, it does not explain the nature of dark matter and dark energy.
One possible explanation for the Hubble Tension would be if there was something missing in our understanding of the early Universe, such as a new component of matter, exotic particles, changing electron mass, or primordial magnetic fields that may do the trick. Theorists have become pretty creative.
Maybe in the end the answer will simply be to “Add some spin.”
The next step is turning the theory into a full computer model… and finding ways to spot signs of this slow cosmic spin.
For more information:
https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2025/04/14/universe-could-be-spinning/
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