The universe is 13.77 billion years old, according to a new measurement built using a powerful telescope in Chile.
Why it’s important to: The correct age of the universe is an important factor for scientists trying to understand the evolution and expansion of the cosmos.
Don’t find them: The Atacama Cosmology Telescope made the measurement by looking at variations in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), the glue left after the Big Bang created the universe.
- Researchers effectively used the telescope to form a triangle in the sky, measuring distances between the Earth and two points of interest in the CMB and then calculating the distance between the two points.
- As the universe expands, measuring distances gives scientists a sense of how fast that change is happening and therefore the age of the universe.
- The new research is outlined in a study published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics.
The big picture: Scientists have been included in a debate about how fast the universe is expanding – a number known as the Hubble Constant.
- The orbit of the globe to 13.77 billion years is in line with the age of the universe previously estimated using data from Planck’s satellite, but there are other methods that measure the distances between stars on top. the world get much younger.
- “Now we have a response where Planck and ACT are [Atacama Cosmology Telescope] agree, “Simone Aiola, author of the study, said in a statement.” He points out that these difficult measurements are reliable. “
What now: Scientists continue to collect data and double-check their analyzes in an effort to resolve the Hubble Constant conflict.
- “The growing tension between these long-opposed local dimensions of a stable Hubble suggests that we may be close to a new discovery in cosmology that could undermine our understanding of how the The universe is working to change, “study author Michael Niemack said in a statement.