Based upon wmap data how old is the universe

Studies of white dwarfs show that the oldest have been cooling for 12 billion to 13 billion years, providing a minimum value for the universe's age. This agrees with findings announced in from a Hubble Space Telescope "Key Project" to determine how fast the universe is expanding.

Astronomers observed pulsating Cepheid stars in 18 nearby galaxies. By measuring how fast the stars pulse, the astronomers determined their true brightness, which, in turn, revealed their distance.

Better distance measurements to these nearby galaxies enabled astronomers to deduce the universe's expansion rate to an accuracy of 10 percent.

Combining this value with estimates of the universe's density, they calculated that the age of the universe is about Scientists can also date the universe by studying the radiation left over from the Big Bang, the explosion that set the universe's evolution in motion.

In , WMAP estimated the age of the universe to be In , Planck measured the age of the universe at Both of these fall within the lower limit of 11 billion years independently derived from the globular clusters, and both have smaller uncertainties than that number. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has also contributed to narrowing down the age of the universe by reducing the uncertainty of the Hubble constant. Combined with the WMAP measurements, scientists were able to make independent calculations of the pull of dark energy.

Freedman lead the study that used Spitzer to refine the Hubble constant. It is quite extraordinary. Editor's Note: This article was updated on Jan. The original article stated that the oldest stars have been estimated to be up to 18 billion years old. Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more!

And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community space. By: Maria Temming July 15, Beyond the Printed Page. Constant Contact Use. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact. Tags Universe FAQ. Comments Heller November 12, at pm Why is the age of the universe in earth years? Edwin Hubble confirmed this when he discovered that many galaxies were moving away from our own at high speeds.

Hubble measured several of these galaxies and in published a paper stating the universe is getting bigger.

Scientists then realized that they could wind this expansion back in time to a point when it all began. The Hubble constant has not been easy to measure, and the number has changed several times since the s, Kuo says. One way to check the Hubble constant is to compare its prediction for the age of the universe with the age of the oldest objects we can see. At the very least, the universe should be older than the objects it contains.

Scientists can estimate the age of very old stars that have burned out—called white dwarfs—by determining how long they have been cooling. Scientists can also estimate the age of globular clusters, large clusters of old stars that formed at roughly the same time. In the s, scientists were puzzled when they found that their estimate of the age of the universe—based on their measurement of the Hubble constant—was several billion years younger than the age of these oldest stars.