And yet, we know how stars work, and astronomers have estimated the age of the Methuselah star, found right here in the Milky Way, to be 14.5 billion years old: significantly older than the cosmos itself. Clearly, you can’t have a star within the Universe that’s older than the Universe itself
the universe 14.3 billion years old?
Measurements made by NASA’s WMAP spacecraft have shown that the universe is 13.77 billion years plus or minus 0.059. The age was further refined by ESA’s Planck spacecraft to be 13.8 billion years old.
Could the universe be older than 14 billion years?
It is unlikely that the universe is more than 14 billion years old. For the universe to be older, we would have to throw out the standard model of cosmology — the so-called lambda-CDM model — that describes our current expanding universe. There is also other evidence that the universe is younger than 14 billion years
Why is the Methuselah star so old?
However, more recent models of its stellar evolution have suggested revision of the star’s age to 13.7 billion years or 12 billion years. Dubbed the “Methuselah Star” by the popular press due to its age, the star must have formed soon after the Big Bang and is one of the oldest stars known as of 2021
How old is the universe according to Hinduism?
Vedas say that our universe is about 155.52 trillion human years old, and its total life span is 311.04 trillion human years (which is equivalent to 100 years of Brahma). In Srimada Bhagwata 5.20.
In 2000, scientists looked to date what they thought was the oldest star in the universe. They made observations via the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Hipparcos satellite and estimated that HD140283 — or Methuselah as it’s commonly known — was a staggering 16 billion years old
Such a figure was rather baffling. After all, the age of the universe — determined from observations of the cosmic microwave background — is 13.8 billion years old, so how can a star be older than the universe?
“It was a serious discrepancy,” says astronomer Howard Bond of Pennsylvania State University. So with that in mind, Bond and his colleagues set out to discover the truth and test the accuracy of the figure. Their conclusions were just as mind-blowing
It was clear that the star was old. The metal-poor subgiant is predominantly made of hydrogen and helium and contains very little iron. Such composition meant the star must have come into being when helium and hydrogen dominated the universe and before iron became commonplace (the heavier elements only appeared when massive stars created them in their cores)
But could Methuselah really be more than two billion years older than its environment? Surely that is just not possible. Either the star was older than the universe or the universe was not as “young” as scientists thought it to be. Or maybe the dating was simply all wrong. What was it to be?
This star has been visible since a hundred years ago
Astronomers had been observing this star for a hundred years. It is 190 light years away from our Earth. Its name is HD 140283 or Methuselah. It is believed that it is the oldest star in the universe.
Age was calculated only 20 years ago
In the year 2000, astronomers tried to find out its age using the European Space Agency’s Hipparcos satellite and found that its age should be 16 billion years. This age surprised everyone, including those astronomers, because scientists have determined the age of the universe to be 13.8 billion years on the basis of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)
Studied 11 different data
Astronomer Howard Bond and his colleagues at Pennsylvania State University studied 11 different data sets recorded by the Hubble Telescope’s Fine Guidance Sensors between 2003 and 2011. With this he observed the position, distance and energy of the stars.
Astronomers took a direct picture of the distant solar system for the first time, know how special it is
Accurate distance is necessary to find age
Bond told Space, “The biggest aspect of uncertainty about the age of HD 140283 was getting the distance between it and Earth correct because only the correct distance can determine the precise brightness that will determine the age of the star.” Is. A brighter star is younger.”
how to find distance
Researchers say that they were using the parallax method in which the distance of stars is measured at an interval of six months. In this, it is seen how much the position of the star changes due to the Earth’s revolution around the Sun. This helps in knowing the distance of the star from the Earth.
And the amount of oxygen too
Apart from this, researchers also paid attention to another fact. Bond said that compared to other aspects, the amount of oxygen in the star was also very important. The ratio of oxygen and iron in HD 140283 turned out to be higher than previously estimated. Since there was very little oxygen in the universe a few million years ago, it is clear that Methuselah’s age should be younger than astronomers’ old estimates.
still older
Bond and his colleagues calculated the age of HD 140283 to be 14.46 billion years, which is still much greater than the age of the universe. But researchers have kept a difference of 0.8 billion years. Due to which the age of the star remains around the age of the universe
Robert Matthews, a physicist at Aston University in Birmingham in the UK, says that all such assessments are prone to random and systematic errors. Considering this difference, this dispute can be resolved only within the limits of the margin. Even after this, many scientists including Mathews believe that whether the age of the universe or the stars is still an unresolved matter.
Why is it called Methuselah star?
However, more recent models of its stellar evolution have suggested revision of the star’s age to 13.7 billion years or 12 billion years. Dubbed the “Methuselah Star” by the popular press due to its age, the star must have formed soon after the Big Bang and is one of the oldest stars known as of 2021
HD 140283 (also known as the Methuselah star) is a metal-poor subgiant star about 200 light years away from the Earth in the constellation Libra, near the boundary with Ophiuchus in the Milky Way Galaxy. Its apparent magnitude is 7.205, so it can be seen with binoculars. It is one of the oldest stars known.
HD 140283, also known as the Methuselah star, was initially thought to be older than the universe itself based on some early estimates of its age. This discrepancy caused a bit of a stir in the scientific community. However, further research and refinements in our understanding have reconciled this apparent contradiction.
The age of the universe is estimated to be around 13.8 billion years based on observations of the cosmic microwave background radiation and the expansion rate of the universe. This age is consistent with our current understanding of cosmology.
The age of stars like HD 140283 is determined using different methods, such as studying their chemical composition, luminosity, and motion. In the case of HD 140283, subsequent studies have refined its age estimate to be around 14.5 billion years, which is indeed older than the age of the universe as we currently understand it.
This seeming paradox can be resolved by considering the uncertainties and margins of error in these age estimates. The age of the universe is not known with absolute precision, and there are uncertainties in both the age of the universe and the age estimates of individual stars. Additionally, the methods used to estimate the age of stars are complex and can be subject to various assumptions and sources of error.
In summary, while early estimates of the age of HD 140283 seemed to conflict with the age of the universe, further research and refinements in our understanding have helped to reconcile these differences within the margins of error and uncertainties associated with these measurements.
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