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HOW OLD IS THE UNIVERSE?!

Have you ever asked yourself how old the universe is? If you have, what was your answer? The universe, quite simply, must at least be as old as the oldest thing we can find in it. Thus, a direct test of the universe’s age is to go hunting for ancient stars and other materials that humans can discover fit to deduce the universe’s age.

Humans for a long time have tried different ways to come up with the age of different sets of things like the early man and what have you. It would go without saying that the age of the universe has been in their heads long enough. Some of the methods used are make-shift methods, but they can’t be disputed as they have a form of accuracy in them.

According to recent astronomical findings, our universe is nearly 14 billion years old-13.8 billion years old to be exact, a timescale much longer than the more relatable spans of hundreds or thousands of years that impact our lived experiences.

The burning question now is how did astronomers arrive at such an enormous number? What did they use to determine how old the universe is? Finally, after thousands of years, we are getting more consistent age estimates, signifying that we are doing it right.

Here is a brief history of how humanity came around to figure out the age of the universe.

The beginning of creation (Antiquity)

Every culture all over the world has a myth of creation. One such myth of innovation that has helped astronomers conclude is Hinduism. It asserts that the universe reforms every 4.3 billion years, not so far off from the Earth’s actual age.

Other early philosophers like Plato and Aristotle had advanced understanding of the universe and how all the planets and stars were embedded, guiding how old the universe is.

Looking at the stars:

You can indeed tell the age of something by looking at something closely related to it. In that case, many astronomers have estimated the universe’s age based on studies from globular clusters.  These clusters serve as cosmic clocks. In addition, they help predict the universe’s age based on the understanding of the life cycle of the stars.

The oldest globular clusters contain only stars less massive than 0.7 solar masses. These low-mass stars are much dimmer than our Sun. This observation suggests that the oldest globular clusters are between 11 and 18 billion years old. The uncertainty in this estimate is due to the difficulty in determining the exact distance to a globular cluster and in our ignorance of some of the details of how stars evolve.

We should always anticipate new findings every time because many astronomers are doing their best to give us answers to some of the world’s most asked questions. However, as it stands today, in 2021, it is true to say that the universe is 13.8 billion years old, to be exact.

References

Riess, Adam G.; Casertano, Stefano; Yuan, Wenlong; Macri, Lucas; Bucciarelli, Beatrice; Lattanzi, Mario G.; MacKenty, John W.; Bowers, J. Bradley; Zheng, Weikang; Filippenko, Alexei V.; Huang, Caroline (2018). “Milky Way Cepheid Standards for Measuring Cosmic Distances and Application to Gaia DR2: Implications for the Hubble Constant”. The Astrophysical Journal. 861 (2): 126. arXiv:1804.10655.

Bennett, C.L.; et al. (2013). “Nine-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Final Maps and Results.” The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 208 (2): 20. arXiv:1212.5225. Bibcode:2013ApJS..208…20B. doi:10.1088/0067-0049/208/2/20. S2CID 119271232.

Bond, H. E.; Nelan, E. P.; Vandenberg, D. A.; Schaefer, G. H.; Harmer, D. (2013). “HD 140283: A Star in the Solar Neighborhood that Formed Shortly After the Big Bang”. The Astrophysical Journal. 765 (12): L12. arXiv:1302.3180. Bibcode:2013ApJ…765L..12B. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/765/1/L12. S2CID 119247629.

Chang, K. (9 March 2008). “Gauging Age of Universe Becomes More Precise.” The New York Times.

Colistete, R.; Fabris, J. C.; Concalves, S. V. B. (2005). “Bayesian Statistics and Parameter Constraints on the Generalized Chaplygin Gas Model Using SNe ia Data.” International Journal of Modern Physics D. 14 (5): 775–796. arXiv:astro-ph/0409245. Bibcode:2005IJMPD..14..775C. doi:10.1142/S0218271805006729. S2CID 14184379.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]