The universe is 13.77 billion years old, according to a new measurement from a powerful telescope in Chile.
Why it matters: The exact age of the universe is an important factor for scientists trying to understand the evolution and expansion of the cosmos.
What they found: The Atacama Cosmology Telescope made the measurement by looking for fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), the glow left after the Big Bang formed the universe.
- Researchers used the telescope to effectively create a triangle in the sky, measuring distances between the Earth and two points of interest in the CMB and then extrapolating the distance between the two points.
- As the Universe is expanding, measuring distances gives scientists an idea of how quickly that change is taking place and with it the age of the Universe.
- The new research is detailed in a study published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics.
The big picture: Scientists are engaged in a debate about how fast the universe is actually expanding – a number known as the Hubble constant.
- The universe’s dating at 13.77 billion years is consistent with the age of the universe previously estimated using data from the Planck satellite, but other methods of measuring the distances between stars have found the universe significantly younger dated.
- “Now we have found an answer where Planck and ACT [Atacama Cosmology Telescope] agree, “Simone Aiola an author of the study, said in a statement.” It speaks of the fact that these difficult measurements are reliable. “
What’s next: Scientists continue to collect data and double check their analyzes in an effort to resolve the conflict with Hubble Constant.
- “The growing tension between these distant versus local measurements of the Hubble constant suggests that we may be on the brink of a new discovery in cosmology that could change our understanding of how the universe works,” said Michael Niemack, a author of the study in the statement.