Recovering the Lost World --Jno Cook
Age of the Universe.
[Table of Contents]
$Revision: 16.7 $
Contents:
[The Milky Way]
[The Local Group]
[The Virgo Supercluster]
[The Visible Universe]
[Endnotes]
[revised 8 May 2005, 7 July 2005] The accepted age of the Universe is a modest 15 billion years, based on a "Big Bang" event at the beginning of time. I won't bring forward the accumulating data which argues against the "Big Bang" -- a derisive term coined by Fred Hoyle, which stuck.
Age of the Milky Way
It would be better to take a look at Halton Arp's book "Seeing Red" (1998). Our galaxy is the daughter of a nearby galaxy in Virgo, and we in turn seem to be the mother and grandmother of two additional generations of offspring galaxies. I have seen recent estimates that it would take 100 billion years to 'form' a galaxy. But Arp suggests (through an example) as little as 8 billion years. I'll use 8 billion years between generations. As a grandmother the Milky Way is three generations old.
Age of the Milky Way galaxy
at 8 billion years per generation ... 24 billion years.
If the Milky Way is typical of a leaf on the branches of the Universe, then the Universe might be very old. If we could count galaxies (they count in the billions), and get some idea of the connections between them (they tend to form in groups, with vast empty spaces in between), we could form an estimate. If there are indeed billions of galaxies, and they multiply by sending new pairs out from their center (as Arp has shown), every 8 billion years, then the galaxies have multiplied like rabbits. I'll do the math for a Fibonacci series.
Age of the Local Group
The local group, to which the Milky Way belongs, contains only about 40 galaxies. The 9th term of the Fibonacci series reaches a population of 34. That represents 9 generations, assuming that this portion of the Universe started from a single other galaxy.
Age of the Local Group of galaxies
at 8 billion years per generation ... 72 billion years.
Age of the Virgo Supercluster
But we are part of the Virgo Supercluster which contains about 27,500 galaxies. The 23st term of the Fibonacci series reaches a population of 28,657, representing 23 generations.
Age of the Virgo Supercluster
at 8 billion years per generation ... 184 billion years.
Age of the Visible Universe
A web source lists 3,850 billion galaxies in the 'visible' Universe. The 62th Fibonacci term is 4,054 billion.
Age of the Visible Universe
at 8 billion years per generation ... 496 billion years.
The really big numbers generated by a Fibonacci Series increases much faster than the index of the series. It is the 'index' which is a measure of age. Thus there might be a finite number which represents the real age of the Universe. However, there are plenty of people who believe the Universe is infinite in size and infinite in age. [note 1]
Endnotes
For estimates on the galaxies at various visual spacings from Earth see Richard Powell's site, [http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com] (currently at http://www.anzwers.org/free/universe/index.html)
For an expansion of Fibonacci terms see
[http://www.mcs.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibtable.html]
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