New numbers for the age of the universe are in!

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2003-02-12 01:14am

Well MAP has returned its first data collected from the cosmic microwave background. The data indicate that the universe is 13.7 billion years (+/- 0.2 billion) old, flat, 4.4% baryons, 22% dark matter and 73% dark energy.

Read more here.

Alferd Packer · Post by **Alferd Packer** » 2003-02-12 01:25am

Veddy cool!

ben · Post by **ben** » 2003-02-12 01:28am

Oh hey, damn usefull site for science, thanks Durandal.

But the whole eternal expansion thing I find slightly strange I could deal with the Big Crunch end of the universe, but forever expansion is just odd. I also wonder what the Fundies are to react to this?

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2003-02-12 01:30am

Same way they always do...rail against it.

Still good info Durandal.

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2003-02-12 01:35am

[Fundie]

No, it's a lie from Satan. Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

[/Fundie]

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2003-02-12 05:30am

13.7 Billion eh?
Nice to know

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-02-12 05:51am

Mr Bean wrote:13.7 Billion eh?
Nice to know

Meh, I have a Pot Noodle in my cupboard older than that...

Singular Quartet · Post by **Singular Quartet** » 2003-02-12 09:54am

13.7? Makes it a little more definite that "Somewhere between 13 and 18 billion."

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi · Post by **Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi** » 2003-02-12 03:50pm

Okay, so it's 13.7 billion years old? I say it's exactly 13,702,681,924 years, 2 months, 21 days, 10 hours, 38 minutes, and 34.5281863 seconds old right now. Of course, I might be a few million years off.

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2003-02-12 05:02pm

Isn't it a 1% margin of error. That's pretty good.

kojikun · Post by **kojikun** » 2003-02-12 05:04pm

"Flat"? Oh great, now we'll have Flat Universers...

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2003-02-12 06:37pm

We have a 1% margin of error now. A week ago, it was "Somewhere between 11 and 17 billion years." 1% margins of error in cosmology are almost unheard of.

Shadow · Post by **Shadow** » 2003-02-12 07:24pm

A few years ago, I heard something like 15 trillion years.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-02-12 07:50pm

Shadow wrote:A few years ago, I heard something like 15 trillion years.

Would this be due to a certain scientologist?

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2003-02-12 08:37pm

ben wrote:Oh hey, damn usefull site for science, thanks Durandal. But the whole eternal expansion thing I find slightly strange I could deal with the Big Crunch end of the universe, but forever expansion is just odd. I also wonder what the Fundies are to react to this?

They're going to hate it. Not only does science say human existence is insignificant, it now has confirmed that it's ultimately meaningless. No matter what happens or what we accomplish, all life is ultimately doomed, unless we figure out how to create an escape hatch. Hell, I don't like it very much either. The difference is, I accept it. They never will.

ben · Post by **ben** » 2003-02-12 09:24pm

RedImperator wrote:
ben wrote:Oh hey, damn usefull site for science, thanks Durandal. But the whole eternal expansion thing I find slightly strange I could deal with the Big Crunch end of the universe, but forever expansion is just odd. I also wonder what the Fundies are to react to this?
They're going to hate it. Not only does science say human existence is insignificant, it now has confirmed that it's ultimately meaningless. No matter what happens or what we accomplish, all life is ultimately doomed, unless we figure out how to create an escape hatch. Hell, I don't like it very much either. The difference is, I accept it. They never will.

Nothing new about that according to the fundies we humans are supposed to be special. The species the god bestowed the gifts of tool making sentience, bah its just so much wanking really. Frankly I seriously doubt we are the first or only sentient tool makers in the universe or the last either.

kojikun · Post by **kojikun** » 2003-02-12 09:55pm

Since when is human doom a bad thing? It'll be the end of Fundies, afterall. And retarded Trekkies.

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2003-02-13 04:55pm

The universe is flat? Does that mean that wormholes can't exist?

LordChaos · Post by **LordChaos** » 2003-02-13 09:36pm

13 billion? surprisingly enough, that's also the estimated shelf life of a twinky.

ArmorPierce · Post by **ArmorPierce** » 2003-02-13 09:43pm

Arrow Mk84 wrote:The universe is flat? Does that mean that wormholes can't exist?

It doesn't mean that.