According to astrophysicists from Germany’s Max Planck Society, the expansion of the cosmos is changing perceptions about the universe as it is happening at a faster rate as compared to previously speculated.
The researchers from Germany’s Max Planck Society were innovative as they shifted the scale from the previous Hubble constant of seventy to over eighty-two (82.4). As a result, this places the universe’ age to nearly over eleven billion (11.4) years.
The scientists, therefore, concluded that the universe might be considerably younger than believed. Nevertheless, these findings have instigated various skeptics.
The universe likely to be 2 billion years younger
The study conducted trimmed the universe age from over thirteen billion (13.8) billion years to twelve billion (12) billion years. Notably, this age is approximated by astrophysicists after measuring the movement of stars based on how fast they are expanding.
If the expansion noted is occurring at a faster rate than previously presumed, the universe attained its present magnitude quicker. As a result, it has to be younger.
According to Inh Jee, a member of German’s Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, considerable uncertainty exists based on the movement of stars in the galaxy.
Previous estimates about the universe’ age
In the past, the age of the universe was predicted on the foundation of an expansion rate or Hubble constant of seventy (70) which was shifted to over eighty-two (82.4) in this current test.
Despite this achievement, the marginal error is speculated to be large because the scientists only utilized two (2) gravitational lenses.
As a result, the calculations made may be wrong as there are suggestions that the universe may be older as compared to being younger.
These limitations have, therefore, led some professionals to question the results. Nevertheless, the researchers have defended their findings attesting that more scrutiny is necessitated.
On the other hand, researchers from Cornell University have proposed to use biofluorescence to resolve the stalemate on whether life exists in the cosmos, particularly on exoplanets or planets found beyond the earth’s solar system.
