2005MNRAS.361.1382V

The consistency of the Einstein-de Sitter model with the Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) recently observed by the Hubble Space Telescope is examined. The model shows a reasonable fit to the observations, if account is taken of the extinction of SN light by the intergalactic metallic dust ejected from the SN explosions. Although the fit to the new data is considerably worse than that of earlier data, it can still be regarded as acceptable. We should wait for more accurate observations at higher redshifts (as expected from forthcoming space missions such as SNAP and the James Webb Space Telescope) before ruling out a model that seems to explain all the other existing observations well (some even better than the favoured ΛCDM model), is consistent with beautiful theoretical ideas such as inflation and cold dark matter, and is not as speculative as the models of dark energy.