A New Cosmic Ruler: Measuring the Hubble Constant with Type II Supernovae

The expansion rate of the Universe, quantified by the Hubble constant (H₀), remains one of the most debated quantities in cosmology. Measurements based on nearby objects yield a higher value than those inferred from observations of the early Universe—a discrepancy known as the "Hubble tension". Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics and their collaborators have now presented a new, independent determination of H₀ using Type II supernovae. The resulting H₀ value agrees with other local measurements and adds to the growing body of evidence for the Hubble tension.