Gauging Age of Universe Becomes More Precise
March 10, 2008 | Source: New York Times
The universe is 13.73 billion years old, give or take 120 million years, astronomers said last week.
WMAP cosmic microwave fluctuations over the full sky using five years of data. The colors represent tiny temperature fluctuations of the remnant glow from the infant universe.(WMAP Science Team)
That age, based on precision measurements of the oldest light in the universe, agrees with results announced in 2006. Two additional years of data from a NASA satellite known as the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe have narrowed the uncertainty by tens of millions of years.
