Could the Universe Be Older Than We Think?

[n2doc]

Could the Universe be much older than we think? Early on its life it appears that our Universe was a place of puzzling extremes and seeming contradictions. That’s the conclusion scientists are drawing from new infrared observations of a very distant, unusually bright and massive elliptical galaxy.

This galaxy was spotted 10 billion light years away, and gives us a glimpse of what the Universe looked like when it was only about one-quarter of its current age.

Measurements show that the galaxy is as large and equally dense as elliptical galaxies that can be found much closer to us. Coupled with recent observations by a different research team - which found a very compact and extremely dense elliptical galaxy in the early Universe - the findings deepen the puzzle over how ‘fully grown’ galaxies can exist alongside seemingly ‘immature’ compact galaxies in the young Universe.

‘What our observations show is that alongside these compact galaxies were other ellipticals that were anything up to 100 times less dense and between two and five times larger - essentially ‘fully grown’ - and much more like the ellipticals we see in the local Universe around us,’ explains Michele Cappellari of Oxford University’s Department of Physics, an author of a report of the research in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

‘The mystery is how these two different extremes, ‘grown up’ and seemingly ‘immature’ ellipticals, co-existed so early on in the evolution of the Universe.’

more
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2010/06/could-the-universe-be-far-older-than-we-think-new-findings-point-that-way.html

[Ian David]

1. Ask John McCain. He was THERE. n/t

[dipsydoodle]

2. Maybe what's wrong

is the measurement of time itself. :shrug:

[tinrobot]

12. Or perhaps that there's any such thing as 'time'

[Nihil]

13. Yes (and "yes" to .2 as well)

Too many assumptions with regard to "time" lead to either question marks
or fiddle factors to make the theory fit.

[Ian David]

3. Alternative Theory:

Space-time is distorted and folded close to The Big Bang, and some of the discrepancies are because we're looking "backward" in some regions of space.

Imagine space-time close to The Big Bang to be distorted like waves on an ocean. At the crest of the waves, as they're breaking toward you, is more recent time. At the base is older time.

Just a conjecture on my part, based on absolutely nothing.

[dipsydoodle]

5. You expressed what I wrote

in a way I was unable to do. Wouldn't worry about the "absolutely nothing" bit

[Deep13]

4. maybe.

It wouldn't be the first time it surprised us.

[msongs]

6. like maybe 6000 years and ONE more day? hmmm lol nt

[cprise]

7. That's a terrible website

Roughly half of that article was lifted (not quoted) exactly from an article at one of the linked websites.

[RagAss]

8. The universe is only happening now. Always now.

[krispos42]

14. So... we're at now, now?

:-)

[sixstrings75]

9. 10 billiion light years away.

Try and wrap your head around that...

"10 Billion light years away"

Makes you seem pretty small in the grand scheme of things.

[laconicsax]

10. 'cause we are.

Infinitesimally small.

[charlie]

11. Yeah, no kidding

10 billion seconds is over 310 years. Even when you try to reduce it to something graspable, it's still boggling. (Also gives you a notion of the immensity of a billionaire's wealth)

And every time we turn around, the place gets magnitudes bigger. From the Milky Way less than 100 years ago to that thumbnail-sized Hubble image just FILTHY with galaxies, we're getting to where insignificant is too grandiose a word to describe our lot.

[FiveGoodMen]

15. "we're getting to where insignificant is too grandiose a word to describe our lot"

We'll have to go with 'Mostly Harmless' instead.