How old is universe?

Press, 26 December 1986, Page 12

How old is universe?

A British university researcher is developing a theory that the universe is twice as old as people think. Traditional estimates, based on the idea of an expanding universe, puts its age at less than 13 billion years. But Dr Tom Shanks, a research fellow at Durham University in north-east England, has calculated that it could be getting on for 25 billion years old. Using powerful telescopes in Australia, he and colleagues have re-measured the distance to clusters of galaxies. Some of the star clusters have a measured age of 17 billion years, he says. Previous calculations have depended on a theory of exotic invisible particles to explain a long-standing problem of “missing mass” in galaxy clusters.

Dr Shanks, who is currently in the Canary Islands using the giant Isaac Newton telescope to collect further evidence, says: "A fundamental debate is opening up in cosmology as astronomers try to reconcile their observational data with this new theory of the early universe.