This Is How Astronomers Know The Age Of The Universe (And You Can, Too)
The hot Big Bang occurred 13.8 billion years ago, and there’s no other possible answer consistent with what we know today.
Conceptually, it might seem like the simplest idea in existence to determine the age of the Universe. Once you figure out that the Universe is expanding, all you need to do is measure the expansion rate today and use the laws of physics to determine how the expansion rate must have changed over time. Instead of extrapolating forward to determine the fate of the Universe, you do the calculating backwards instead, and go all the way back until you achieve the conditions of the hot Big Bang itself.
This obvious method not only works, but it remains the best way we have to calculate the Universe’s age even today. Yet it’s very easy to go awry, as there are many simplifying assumptions you can make that will give you an easy answer that isn’t necessarily correct, including errors that even a Nobel Laureate made earlier this year. Here’s how you, too, can figure out the age of the Universe.