An international team of astrophysicists was able to measure the age and speed of its expansion using a new method and based on data from the Spitzer Space Telescope.

The new measurement showed that the age of the universe is estimated at about 12.6 billion years, that is, it decreases by more than one billion years from the value previously suggested by accurate scientific measurements, which raises questions about the reasons for this disparity.

Hubble constant

The universe is still playing a stealth game with scientists, and it is refusing to reveal the true age that scientists thought they had guided to in the past years and set it at nearly 13.77 billion years.

And here he is evading them again through the results of a scientific study conducted by an international team of astrophysicists led by researchers from the University of Oregon in the United States to calculate the age of the universe and the speed of its expansion with a constant measure "Hubble".

This constant was developed by American astronomer Edwin Hubble in the 1920s within a mathematical law to measure the speed of galaxy spacing and their relationship to the distance that separates them from us, and based on its value, scientists calculate the age of the universe.

Scientists today rely on many approaches to determine the time period that separates us from the Big Bang or the beginning of the universe, such as mathematics and computer modeling, the use of distance estimates for older stars, the movement of galaxies and explosions of stars, the rate of expansion of the universe and the radiation of the cosmic microwave background.

Scientists use different methods to measure the speed of expansion of the universe (NASA).

New method and different results

In the new study published in the "Astronomical Journal" on July 17th, researchers used for the first time a well-known mathematical equation that links the mass of a spiral galaxy with the speed of its rotation around itself and the distance that separates it from it, known as the "Tally-Fisher" equation.

According to the Eurek Alert report on the study, accurate measurements of the distances of 50 galaxies taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope were used, and astrophysicists were able to calculate the distances that separate us from 95 other galaxies.

The mathematical equation used enabled researchers to accurately determine the masses of these galaxies and their rotational speed, which allowed at a later stage to calculate the age of the universe and the speed of its expansion.

Accordingly, the scientists came to calculate the values ​​of the age of the universe and the Hubble constant, and found that its lifetime is estimated at about 12.6 billion years, and they also determined the value of the Hubble constant at about 75.1 km per second in every megaparsk (the parsec or parsec in astronomy a distance of 3.3 light years), This means that for every 3.3 million light-years away, galaxies move away from us at a speed of 75.1 km per second.

According to the researchers, these values ​​correspond to those that were measured using supernovae (star explosions) earlier, but they differ greatly from the most acceptable value today for scientists to the age of the universe and determined using the radiation of the cosmic microwave background is 13.77 billion years, and considering that the Hubble constant Not exceeding 67.1 km per second per megaparsk.

The authors of the new study confirm that their findings also indicate that it is very unlikely that the Hubble constant would have a value of less than 70 km per second in every megaparsk, which puts cosmologists very confused.

Researchers have used a new method to calculate the galaxy spacing and the rate of expansion of the universe (Flickers).

Where is the problem?

So, what are the reasons for this huge variation in the age of the universe and the speed of its expansion that does not seem to be due to a margin of error or inaccuracy of the methods used?

There is no doubt that the new study - which is based in part on observations made using the Spitzer Space Telescope - adds a new element to how the Hubble constant is calculated, by providing a purely experimental method using direct observations to determine the distance to galaxies.

But it is also fueling a long-standing debate among scientists about the value of the Hubble constant and the age of the universe, and it indicates that "our understanding of universe physics is still incomplete, pending the building of new physics in the future," said James Schumpert, lead author of the study in a statement at the University of Oregon.