2006-07-09 08:39:16 · 8 answers · asked by Oriverkid137 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
the universe is 13.7 billion years old.
look here:
http://universeadventure.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_the_universe
http://www.sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=0009F0CA-C523-1213-852383414B7F0147
http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_uni.html
also, i have something for you to think about. the universe is 13.7 billion years old, but we can observe part of the universe that is about 46 billion lightyears away.
2006-07-09 10:22:30 · answer #1 · answered by warm soapy water 5 · 5⤊ 0⤋
The most important result of physical cosmology, the understanding that the universe is expanding, is derived from redshift observations and quantified by Hubble's Law. Extrapolating this expansion back in time, one approaches a gravitational singularity, a rather abstract mathematical concept, which may or may not correspond to reality. This gives rise to the Big Bang theory, the dominant model in cosmology today. The age of the universe from the time of the Big Bang, was estimated to be about 13.7 billion (13.7 à 109) years, with a margin of error of about 1 % (± 200 million years), according to NASA's WMAP (Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe). However, this is based on the assumption that the underlying model used for data analysis is correct. Other methods of estimating the age of the universe give different ages.
2006-07-10 06:57:55 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Edwin Hubble, for whom the Hubble Space Telescope is named, tried to calculate the age of the universe. His best estimate was twenty billion years old.
Then, just a few years ago, a graduate student, reviewing Hubble's old papers for his thesis, discovered that Hubble made a mistake! He forgot to divide an equation by two!
As a result, we now believe that the universe is only TEN billion years old, not twenty.
I hope this clears up any lingering difficulties the confusion may have caused.
(This just goes to show that the big scientists can make mistakes, too. They aren't any smarter than we are.)
2006-07-09 16:13:42 · answer #3 · answered by cdf-rom 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
my theory:
1 sextillion, 546 quadrillion, 823 trillion, 84 million, 645 thousand 158, years 214 days, 13 hours, 45 minutes, 53 seconds, and 76 nanoseconds.
2006-07-10 01:15:12 · answer #4 · answered by Jonathan 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no one knows for sure, but best guess is about 15 billion years
2006-07-09 15:43:00 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
that question canot be answered given the modern scientific evedince but i believe that didnt have a begining
2006-07-09 15:43:51 · answer #6 · answered by collegeb16 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
billions of years!
2006-07-09 15:50:07 · answer #7 · answered by black _princess 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no body knows for certain
2006-07-09 15:58:25 · answer #8 · answered by 1234abcd 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋