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?
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Well, yes it is.
The Cosmologists are saying “this evidence doesnt fit our understanding of what is possible”. what that means is that EITHER our understanding of what is possible is wrong, OR the evidence is wrong.
They cant work out *which* is wrong yet, so further research is needed, pls give us money, k thx bye.
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.
Well, yes it is.
The Cosmologists are saying “this evidence doesnt fit our understanding of what is possible”. what that means is that EITHER our understanding of what is possible is wrong, OR the evidence is wrong.
They cant work out *which* is wrong yet, so further research is needed, pls give us money, k thx bye.
There’s still a whole lot left to learn about the Universe so everything we think we know currently, could very well be overturned with future observations and exploration.
The Universe as we know it is somewhere around 13.8 billion years old and it’s believed that stars and galaxies didn’t start forming until several hundred million years after the initial inflation event.
Anytime something is found that is considered to be “to old” it’s done so with the current knowledge that we have.
The galaxy in question is basically too big and unusual for the age that it should be, which means it should’ve started forming much, much earlier than current theories suggest.
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.
It can be, but right now our understanding of galaxy formation, especially for the “first galaxies” is much poorer than our understanding of the big bang and when it occured, so the consensus in the community is that we should start with the galaxies instead
It very well could be though that the 2 or 3 measurements for the universe’s age are wrong (they’re not perfect, after all) and someone at some university somewhere is probably looking into it, but most of us are much more confident in those measurements than we are in the galaxy formation timelines
It can be, but right now our understanding of galaxy formation, especially for the “first galaxies” is much poorer than our understanding of the big bang and when it occured, so the consensus in the community is that we should start with the galaxies instead
It very well could be though that the 2 or 3 measurements for the universe’s age are wrong (they’re not perfect, after all) and someone at some university somewhere is probably looking into it, but most of us are much more confident in those measurements than we are in the galaxy formation timelines
It can be, but right now our understanding of galaxy formation, especially for the “first galaxies” is much poorer than our understanding of the big bang and when it occured, so the consensus in the community is that we should start with the galaxies instead
It very well could be though that the 2 or 3 measurements for the universe’s age are wrong (they’re not perfect, after all) and someone at some university somewhere is probably looking into it, but most of us are much more confident in those measurements than we are in the galaxy formation timelines
The universe can be somewhat older than 13.7 billion years but not much. In 1961, physicist Robert Dicke argued that universe cannot be much older than 10 billion years, since in the far future all the fuel for stars will have been used up, and we require hot stars for our sustenance.
The universe can be somewhat older than 13.7 billion years but not much. In 1961, physicist Robert Dicke argued that universe cannot be much older than 10 billion years, since in the far future all the fuel for stars will have been used up, and we require hot stars for our sustenance.
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