 An extraordinary new study is challenging scientists' fundamental understanding of the universe by suggesting it is almost twice as old as thought. The universe has long been estimated to be around 14 billion years old, and in 2020 further research helped reach a consensus that it is 13.8 billion years old. New techniques deployed in 2021 narrowed this to 13.797 billion years. However, last year the James Webb Space Telescope discovered two galaxies that were older and more mature than thought possible, forming approximately 350 million and 450 million years after the Big Bang. Speaking at the time, co-author Paola Santini said: 'These observations just make your head explode. This is a whole new chapter in astronomy. It's like an archaeological dig, and suddenly you find a lost city or something you didn't know about. It's just staggering.' Co-author Pascal Oesch added: 'While the distances of these early sources still need to be confirmed with spectroscopy, their extreme brightness is a real puzzle, challenging our understanding of galaxy formation.' The findings have not just challenged galaxy formation, but that of the entire universe, with a new paper by Rajendra Gupta, adjunct professor of physics at the University of Ottawa, placing the age of the universe at 26.7 billion years. The two early galaxies, thought to have been in existence since approximately 450 and 350 million years after the Big Bang (Picture: AFP) A key factor in ageing the universe involves analysing the redshift of light from distant galaxies – as the universe expands and they move further away, light waves emitted by them become longer, meaning redder. Zwicky's tired light theory proposes that this redshift is due to the gradual loss of energy by photons over vast cosmic distances, but this conflicted with current observations when proposing a universe that was 13.8 billion years ol){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
An extraordinary new study is challenging scientists’ fundamental understanding of the universe by suggesting it is almost twice as old as thought.
The universe has long been estimated to be around 14 billion years old, and in 2020 further research helped reach a consensus that it is 13.8 billion years old. New techniques deployed in 2021 narrowed this to 13.797 billion years.
However, last year the James Webb Space Telescope discovered two galaxies that were older and more mature than thought possible, forming approximately 350 million and 450 million years after the Big Bang.
Speaking at the time, co-author Paola Santini said: ‘These observations just make your head explode. This is a whole new chapter in astronomy. It’s like an archaeological dig, and suddenly you find a lost city or something you didn’t know about. It’s just staggering.’