What does this mean for the Standard Model of cosmology?
University of Ottawa scientist Dr. Rajendra Gupta claims that his latest calculations indicate that the universe is not 13.7 billion years old, but… 26.7 billion years. In his view, the standard model of cosmology, which uses redshift to determine the age of the universe, should also take into account the so-called “light fatigue” theory.
This states that the redshift is due not only to the object's distance from Earth, but also to the fact that the energy of light particles decreases with time. This could explain why a star like MethuselahIt is currently considered the oldest star ever observed, as it is estimated to be about 14.3 billion years old and appears to be older than the currently assumed age of the universe.
However, Gupta's views have not yet been shared by the scientific community. The James Webb Space Telescope has only been in operation since mid-2022, and there is still a lot of data to be collected, evaluated, and compared to theoretical models. There are theories more radical than Gupta's. Some completely deny that the Big Bang is the origin of the universe, while other theories assume it Exists forever being.
However, one thing is certain after the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope: the Standard Model of cosmology will at least need to be revised. Only time will tell whether it will have to be completely rewritten and replaced with an entirely new explanation of the origins and age of the universe.
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