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ONE OF THE most amazing predictions of the Big Bang theory
is that the Universe has not always existed. The oldest objects IN
the Universe seem to be only about 10 billion years old. The Universe
itself has to be older but how much older? Dr Charles Lineweaver has found
that our Universe is 13.4 billion years old, a billion years younger than
previously thought. The result was published in
the American journal Science (May 28, 1999). Instead of measuring the ages
of old objects, Dr Lineweaver has used Einstein's general theory of relativity
in which the age of the Universe can be determined by the measurement of
three things:
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- the speed at which the Universe is expanding
- the amount of matter in the Universe and
- the cosmological constant.
Improvements in our knowledge of these three cosmological
parameters made the new estimate possible. Dr Lineweaver's analysis of
recent measurements of the oldest photons in the Universe (the cosmic
microwave background radiation) and half a dozen other new cosmological
observations was the key to the new result.
Charles Lineweaver
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