Cosmologists have found galaxies that are said to be too old to exist. Why isn’t this simply evidence that the universe is older than we think?

Question

Cosmologists have found galaxies that are said to be too old to exist. Why isn’t this simply evidence that the universe is older than we think?

In: 81

Answer 1

There are multiple possible explanation of why galaxies can be “older” than expected.

1. Universe is older than we thought

2. Galaxies started forming earlier than we thought

3. Our measurements were wrong

And multiple answers can be true at the same time.

There might also be another rule in place we are not aware of just yet.