How old is our Universe?

[simei-sky]

Hi,

Has anyone asked how old is our universe while obbing at the marvelous creation of the different DSO objects and planets?

There are some who say that the universe is millions/billions years old(old universe), some say that the universe is no more then 7000 plus/minus years old(young universe) and others, who attempted to match the 2 concepts together(matchmaker).

Old universe:
It takes ages for a solar system to form, let along a single galaxy and we have more then one! We can also see the birth and death of stars witness from Earth. It has traveled through time (a long time) before reaching us. Of course the bone sample collected from earth is also another testimony where it can be dated by testing their Carbon content. There are more arguments then my basic knowledge here.

Young universe:
If the universe is very old, then our Sun must be very, very ,very big when it started because it takes a long time for it to shrink to its current size as it burns itself out. Can you imagine what it would be like on earth during that period? It must be so hot that all forms of water will be gone; just like that and how can Earth re-birth itself to our current state? What about the biggest star we currently know? Just imagine how big they must be back then if the universe was indeed very old! Again, there are more arguments then my basic knowledge here.

Matchmaker:
Well they maintain that the universe is old and that the bone samples from earth is also correct. These old bone samples are from the 1st Earth and this 1st Earth was completely destroyed. We are living on the 2nd Earth after the 1st Earth was destroyed and it is very young, 7000 plus/minus years old. Again, there are more arguments then my basic knowledge here.

Amazing! Is it not? Which concept do you adopt or do you have any other alternatives? What will be your new perspective each time you go obbing again?

[acc]

The short answer: the Universe is about 13.7 billion years old...

See here -> http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_mm/mr_age.html

[chrisyeo]

Young universe:
If the universe is very old, then our Sun must be very, very ,very big when it started because it takes a long time for it to shrink to its current size as it burns itself out.

Er... our sun is only 4.5 billion years old...formed after the universe.. so why can't our sun be very young while the universe is old?

Also, why must something shrink when it burns? In fact, old stars expand as they grow older and exhaust their nuclear fuel in the core (E.g. Red supergiant Betelgeuse). The hydrogen in the outer shell starts to burn and this causes the star to expand.

My my.. there are so many interesting scientific facts out there.. we should try to learn more about them! :oops:

And to be honest, even the young earth creationists claim that the Earth is about 10,000 yrs old! I've never heard anyone claim that the universe is 7000 (plus/minus??) years old.. Where did you hear that from?

Cheers and best regards,
Chris

[Airconvent]

mmm....you would more likely to find the matchmaker theory in some a japanese anime story line rather than amongst cosmologist and astronomers.

in reality, many fossils have been carbon dated to at least hundreds of millions of years old so even if the creationist claim the earth is hundreds of thousands years old, they would be way out also. The fact that we can see light from far away galaxies prove that the universe is at least as old as the dinosaurs.

Of course no one is sure how old the universe is but based on observations, it has been projected to be at least 14 billions years old. That estimate will only increase as better space telescopes are built that can look further back in time.

[simei-sky]

Hi Chris: Yap you are right, it is the young earth creationists claim rather then the universe on the age issue.

Airconvent: I read it from the internet on the matchmaker (my own term ) concept. It is a view from a certain religion. Their argument is that the universe is old. The fossils dating back to millions years is also correct because it was from the first earth. The first earth was destroyed somehow, either by meteors, volcanos, many guesses here. Finally when it has all settled down, the destroyed earth starts to "rebirth" process again. Fact or friction, it remains and argument.

Well, I've learn a thing or two from those comments and rightly so, no one knows for sure how old is the universe or the earth. It sure is an interesting question with many mysteries behind it.

[acc]

Multiple evidences all indicate that the age of the universe is approx 13-14 billion years old. This is based on objective scientific evidence.

Claims by creationists, and pseudo-science proponents are misleading and must not be propagated here. The first-earth second-earth theory is also NONSENSE. This forum does not welcome postings on creationism and religious theories on how the universe come into existance.

Please read this if you are still not convinced:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articl ... 9EC588EEDF[/B]

[ChaosKnight]

simei sky, can you please post a link to the "young universe" concept? I'd like to see the source if it.

The idea of a 6000-7000 year old universe sounds familiar. Probably read it in some pseudo-science fiction storybook.

[acc]

simei-sky you can PM chaosknight and others who may want the link. Do not post it here. Thanks.

[Clifford60]

Sorry to continue, if one had watch National Geographic sometime last year or year before, it showed civilization exist in south west of Chad some 10,000 yrs ago and the civilization move east toward River Nile over the years. Most of these civilization artefacts were also found with the Egyptian civilization starting about 5000 yrs ago. So how can the new earth happen 7000 yrs ago??? This idea is just another cult talks like the end of the world cults, every next yr to the leader is end of the world, and every yrs passed and nothing happen, but some people still believe in his idea. To me this is waste of time for further discussion and this is not the right forum for the topic. WE ARE ABOUT THE SKY AND STARS.

Mod please lock it up.

[Airconvent]

Thanks Clifford for understand what astronomy really is.
This thread is about how old the universe is, so as long as we keep to the topic, there is no need to lock the thread for now.
cheers!