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Astronomy/Age of the universe

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Expert: - 12/5/2011


Question
How was the age of the universe calculated. Could the universe be older than this calculation?

Answer
Kevin, there were several techniques used:
http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/age.html

For the best information, read everything you can find on the internet about NASA's WMAP satellite.  Here is it's main webpage.
http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_age.html

We should enver say that it is IMPOSSIBLE that these studies are wrong.  But for the studies to be wrong, it would take an extremely radical re-assessing of fundmental physics, in ways that I, personally, think are highly unlikely.

Keep Looking Up!
-Ed

Astronomy

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Ed

Expertise

I am not a professional astronomer by any means, but astronomy has been an interest of mine since childhood, and I am well-informed on the subject. If unable to answer someone`s question personally, I will know how to quickly find the answer online, because I keep myself informed about developments in the field and I know where to look for information.

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I worked in an observatory for awhile at one point, doing various interesting things with a computer.

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