91
XXX (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by xfreed@sh.itjust.works to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.world
NSFW 27 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Is the Universe 13.8 or 26.7 billion years old?

Our universe is actually 27 billion years old, almost double the current age estimate

According to the "Standard Model" of cosmology, the Universe is 68% dark energy, 27% dark matter, 5% normal matter, and is 13.8 billion years old: as measured since the hot Big Bang.

Recent observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), however, have found numerous galaxies that appear early, but look surprisingly grown-up. A new theory claims to solve this "early, grown-up galaxies" problem by changing the age of the Universe to 26.7 billion years old.

all 28 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] EveryMuffinIsNowEncrypted 82 points 8 months ago

A new theory claims

Hypothesis, not theory. It is a small distinction but an important one in science.

[-] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 32 points 8 months ago

It's not even a small distinction. It's a big one.

[-] EveryMuffinIsNowEncrypted 22 points 8 months ago

I was being polite. Lol.

[-] niktemadur@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

So as not to offend Mr. & Mrs. Hypothesis?
(whisper) - "They're standing right behind you."

[-] EveryMuffinIsNowEncrypted 3 points 8 months ago

Oh shit. stammers Um... Heyyyyy thereeee, I didn't say anything about you guys...

Um... Shit.

[-] Deestan@lemmy.world 51 points 8 months ago

Astrophysicists are generally annoyed at the standard model. It's got too many fudges in it. Maybe this will make a new and more explanatory model be discovered and accepted.

Practically, nothing much will change except for astrophysicists being really excited for a while because this kind of thing is what science is all about.

[-] sxan@midwest.social 19 points 8 months ago

One thing will change. There's a theory that one answer to the Fermi Paradox is that is because humans have appeared relatively early in the formation of the universe; we got an early sun, early solar system, life evolved rapidly... we can't hear anyone else because we're one of the firsts. If the age of the universe is double what we thought, this explanation becomes less probable, and the Fermi Paradox more concerning.

[-] newcool1230@lemm.ee 12 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

For those (like me) who was wondering what the Fermi Paradox was:

The Fermi paradox is the discrepancy between the lack of conclusive evidence of advanced extraterrestrial life and the apparently high likelihood of its existence. As a 2015 article put it, "If life is so easy, someone from somewhere must have come calling by now."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox

[-] cynar@lemmy.world 11 points 8 months ago

To further add to this. The concern is related to what is nicknamed "the great filter". The drake equation tries to estimate the number of communicating civilisations within range of us. Even with quite pessimistic terms, it still implies there should be lots of them. Therefore, a term is likely missing or wrong. This is known as the great filter.

If the great filter is behind us, that's fine. E.g. abiogenesis being vastly harder, and so less likely, than we think. However, it could also be ahead of us. If it is, it likely won't be far. We are already entering the era where we are detectable on an interstellar distance. Nukes and climate change have been raised as potential "great filters".

An alternative idea is that we are not typical. If we are one of the first civilisations to reach this level, at least locally, then we would see very little. An older universe makes this significantly less likely.

[-] XeroxCool@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago

An interesting point about the radio visibility of our civilization is that it was incredibly short lived. Sure, we have some unique items that may be visible if specifically searched, such as radiation or organic chemical signatures/ratios. But the whole thing about blasting space with radio and TV signals? Basically just a 100 year stint. Current devices are much more focused, so there's less spill, and by going digital, identifiable waveforms are much rarer. We went form nothing, to being the social media addict of the solar system, to blending back into the static in a matter of a century.

[-] cynar@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

The question is, how that trend develops. Right now, our footprint is dropping, due to efficiency improvements. At the same time, that might change again. E.g. large scale Comms between a home world, like earth, and other planets.

There is also the problem of older civilisations. Any approaching type 2 will be VERY visible, as the spectrum of their star changes. In terms of human history, we are a long way off. In ages of the universe scales, 10,000 years is practically a blip. We see no evidence of Dyson swarms or anything of that nature. An extra 13 billion years is a LONG time for no one to leave a detectable footprint.

[-] shalafi@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

You nailed a thing I think many miss. Our signals will be static soon, and I don't care what kind of magical tech aliens have. Static is static, truly random noise.

And as a civilization progresses, less and less need for EMF broadcast. Think fiber vs. AM radio. Maybe we'll hit a tech point where, for whatever reason, we broadcast more EMF, dunno.

[-] Toes@ani.social 30 points 8 months ago

It's still a far shot away from 5000 years so I'll be fine.

[-] MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca 10 points 8 months ago

+/- a couple billion years

[-] Lath@kbin.earth 25 points 8 months ago

This changes everything!!!

Think of the rate of decay!

Think of the motion!

Think of the odds of finding life!

Think of the light!

Think of time itself!

We were nothing before, but we are doubly nothing now, which is much worse!

Panic! Panic at the disco!

[-] Asafum@feddit.nl 9 points 8 months ago

Much better to face these kinds of things with a sense of poise and rationality.

[-] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 23 points 8 months ago

I guess finding a galaxy that is older than 13.8 billion years would lend credence to the hypothesis.

But yeah, there's definitely something wrong with cosmology.

Here's a good video about the topic from an astrophysicist. https://youtu.be/aBYgck1zAgQ

[-] burgersc12@mander.xyz 10 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Dr. Becky is the best!

[-] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 7 points 8 months ago

She's always at the top of my science-videos playlist when she has a new video out.

[-] Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 8 months ago

Same. I jump on her vids right away unless, maybe, an acollierastro video was also released.

[-] stoly@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

I seem to recall hearing recently about results that seemed to indicate that a certain galaxy is older than we'd expect.

[-] Cosmicomical@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

Well they found a galaxy at 390 million years after the big bang, that according to current understanding should be billions of years old. That should do, I think?

[-] Grunt4019@lemm.ee 2 points 8 months ago

Great YouTube channel thanks for sharing!

[-] prime_number_314159@lemmy.world 21 points 8 months ago

That estimate is based on assuming that the ratio of matter to light output is the same between galaxies 10 billion years apart in age. The high light output of these young galaxies could also be supermassive stars that burn out very quickly, larger stars typically forming faster than smaller stars, or many other things.

Blindly assuming a linear relationship between two things, then extrapolating is how you get the Windows loading bar circa 2000.

Separately, but just as big a potential issue, the data itself may be incorrect. Previous galaxies measured at extreme redshift values were remeasured, and found to have less extreme values. This can be as simple as there aren't that many photons from these galaxies reaching us, so a short measurement period might not be enough to get an accurate picture.

[-] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 13 points 8 months ago

Considering that universes are best before 25 billion years I think it goes a long way towards explaining how disappointing humanity is.

[-] yarr@feddit.nl 8 points 8 months ago

by 13 billion

[-] Quadhammer@lemmy.world 8 points 8 months ago

The age of our sun would be what would concern me the most. Personally

this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2024
91 points (100.0% liked)

No Stupid Questions

35862 readers
1020 users here now

No such thing. Ask away!

!nostupidquestions is a community dedicated to being helpful and answering each others' questions on various topics.

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules (interactive)

Rule 1- All posts must be legitimate questions. All post titles must include a question.

All posts must be legitimate questions, and all post titles must include a question. Questions that are joke or trolling questions, memes, song lyrics as title, etc. are not allowed here. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.

Rule 2- Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.

Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.

Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.

Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.

Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Questions which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.

Rule 6- Regarding META posts and joke questions.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-question posts using the [META] tag on your post title.

On fridays, you are allowed to post meme and troll questions, on the condition that it's in text format only, and conforms with our other rules. These posts MUST include the [NSQ Friday] tag in their title.

If you post a serious question on friday and are looking only for legitimate answers, then please include the [Serious] tag on your post. Irrelevant replies will then be removed by moderators.

Rule 7- You can't intentionally annoy, mock, or harass other members.

If you intentionally annoy, mock, harass, or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.

Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.

Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.

Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.

Credits

Our breathtaking icon was bestowed upon us by @Cevilia!

The greatest banner of all time: by @TheOneWithTheHair!

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
ja2@lemmy.world
_MoveSwiftly@lemmy.world
Rooki@lemmy.world
Thekingoflorda@lemmy.world
automodbeta@lemmy.world
L3s@lemmy.world