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How does the universe have an age if time is relative?
Every clock measures its own time and there is no such thing as a universal time. And yet, cosmologists are always talking about the age of the universe (a mere 13.80±0.02 billion years young).
How do we know the universe is 13.8 billion years old?
We do not know the exact age of the universe, but we believe that it is around 13 billion years – give or take a few billion. Astronomers estimate the age of the universe in two ways: (a) by looking for the oldest stars; and (b) by measuring the rate of expansion of the universe and extrapolating back to the Big Bang.
What is the age of the universe according to current evidence?
approximately 13.8 billion years old
According to research, the universe is approximately 13.8 billion years old.
Is the universe bigger than 13 billion light years?
As you can imagine, some confusion arises when one considers the fact that the universe is not 13.8 billion light-years across — a number that corresponds with the age of the universe. By current estimates, it’s actually quite a bit larger with an estimated diameter of some 93 billion light-years.
How old is the universe?
You might think, in a Universe limited by the speed of light, that would be 13.8 billion light years: the age of the Universe multiplied by the speed of light. But 13.8 billion light years is far too small to be the right answer.
How big is the universe?
You might think, in a Universe limited by the speed of light, that would be 13.8 billion light years: the age of the Universe multiplied by the speed of light. But 13.8 billion light years is far too small to be the right answer. In actuality, we can see for 46 billion light years in all directions, for a total diameter of 92 billion light years.
How far back in time can we see the universe?
Therefore, the longer we wait, the farther we can see, as light travels in a straight line at the speed of light. So after 13.8 billion years, you’d expect to be able to see back almost 13.8 billion light years, subtracting only how long it took stars and galaxies to form after the Big Bang.
Why is the age of the universe so difficult to estimate?
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. An alternative approach to estimate is the age of the universe is to measure the “Hubble constant”.