How old is the universe

Our mind is an intriguing one. We love to imagine, paint interesting stories and even more learn about learn about fascinating facts from history. Where did man come from? Who created us? Who created the universe? These are some of the amazing questions we would love to know facts about. However, one of the most interesting and trending topic today is, how old is the universe? Can we every know the actual age of the universe? It is difficult to understand a few fundamental facts about the universe, its origin, its history, and what it is today and one of them is surely, the Big Bang Theory. Firstly, the universe is 13.8 billion years old. Well, let us look at some facts and details that will answer this question.

Can we ever know the actual how old is the universe?

We know age is just a number, but this number when we are talking about the universe is an important one. How have scientists concluded that the universe is 13.8 billion years old and how are they so sure about it? In simple words, the universe, should be as old as the oldest things we find in it. A hunt for stars is the easiest and best way of an age test of the universe. Now, the universe logically is not younger than the oldest thing found in it. By determining the ages of the oldest stars, scientists can put a limit on the age.

The first moment we can describe the Universe as we know it to be today which is full of matter and radiation, and the ingredients that would eventually grow into stars, galaxies, planets and human beings was 13.8 billion years ago. By looking for what is called the “main sequence turn off” for the cluster, stars in clusters, or agglomerations of stars, all born at the same time, can be most accurately age-dated. Known as Population III stars, the first stars were massive and short-lived. Hydrogen and helium were the core contents of these, but through fusion began to create the elements that would help to build the next generation of stars. Scientists have been hunting for traces of the first stars for decades.

Early stars are not the only way to determine the age of the universe. Global clusters which are dense collections of stars have similar characteristics. The global clusters that are the oldest comprise of stars ages that appear to be between 11 and 14 billion years old. The wide range comes from problems in pinpointing the distances to the clusters, which affects estimates of brightness and thus mass. If the cluster is farther away than scientists have measured, the stars would be brighter, as a result of which it would be more massive, thus younger than calculated.

At first the many independent ways of measuring the age of the universe gave a wide variety of estimates, ranging up to twenty billion years or more, and astronomers argued over whose results were best. But around the end of the twentieth century, the answers began to converge — agreeing on an age in the range of twelve to fifteen billion years. That still left room for vigorous debate. As old tools were refined and yet more new ones were devised, the answer was narrowed down to 13.7 billion years, give or take a few hundred million. It is amazing to learn that the universe is so old and still has so much to offer. Some resources are replenishable. The universe is an awe-inspiring creation and all we can do is just wonder in awe about the great wisdom of the creator.