The Big Bang Theory or an Alternate Creation?
According to measurements of CMB (Cosmic Microwave Background) radiation, the Big Bang occurred approximately 13.8 billion years ago. Within a few hundred million years, the first galaxies began to form.
The Universe, as we understand it, does not have a definable center or edges. However, if one were to model the Universe in three dimensions, it could be reasoned that, if the Universe is expanding uniformly in all directions, the oldest galaxies would likely be concentrated in certain regions, while younger galaxies would be expected to be located at greater distances from this cluster.
The Milky Way is approximately 13.61 billion years old, according to current cosmological models. The Barnard galaxy, a barred spiral galaxy, is 13 billion years old and lies only 1.6 million light-years from the Milky Way. The Andromeda galaxy, located 2.5 million light-years away, is approximately 10 billion years old. Similarly, the Triangulum galaxy, located 3 million light-years away, is also estimated to be around 10 billion years old.
While the Milky Way formed relatively soon after the Big Bang, approximately 200 million years later, cosmological models predict that newer galaxies should require billions of years to form. Moreover, the rate of galaxy formation is believed to have decreased over time, consistent with the theory of Cosmic downturn. This decline is attributed to the decreasing density of gas available to form new stars as the Universe ages. According to the Hubble law, as space expands, matter becomes increasingly diluted.
Here is the issue: if we consider the proximity of the galaxies nearest to us, it could be inferred that the Milky Way is one of the first galaxies to form, with other galaxies like Barnard, Andromeda, and Triangulum following suit. Cosmologists, using the James Webb Space Telescope (Launched Dec 2021), anticipated they would discover younger galaxies at greater distances from us.
However, what happend was unexpected! The JWST has identified a galaxy, GLASS-z13, located 13.4 billion light-years away, which is approximately the same age as the Milky Way. The contradiction: if the Milky Way and GLASS-z13 are among the oldest galaxies in the Universe, why is GLASS-z13 located so far from the Milky Way? Furthermore, why are younger galaxies located much closer to the Milky Way?
The Universe, as we understand it, does not have a definable center or edges. However, if one were to model the Universe in three dimensions, it could be reasoned that, if the Universe is expanding uniformly in all directions, the oldest galaxies would likely be concentrated in certain regions, while younger galaxies would be expected to be located at greater distances from this cluster.
The Milky Way is approximately 13.61 billion years old, according to current cosmological models. The Barnard galaxy, a barred spiral galaxy, is 13 billion years old and lies only 1.6 million light-years from the Milky Way. The Andromeda galaxy, located 2.5 million light-years away, is approximately 10 billion years old. Similarly, the Triangulum galaxy, located 3 million light-years away, is also estimated to be around 10 billion years old.
While the Milky Way formed relatively soon after the Big Bang, approximately 200 million years later, cosmological models predict that newer galaxies should require billions of years to form. Moreover, the rate of galaxy formation is believed to have decreased over time, consistent with the theory of Cosmic downturn. This decline is attributed to the decreasing density of gas available to form new stars as the Universe ages. According to the Hubble law, as space expands, matter becomes increasingly diluted.
Here is the issue: if we consider the proximity of the galaxies nearest to us, it could be inferred that the Milky Way is one of the first galaxies to form, with other galaxies like Barnard, Andromeda, and Triangulum following suit. Cosmologists, using the James Webb Space Telescope (Launched Dec 2021), anticipated they would discover younger galaxies at greater distances from us.
However, what happend was unexpected! The JWST has identified a galaxy, GLASS-z13, located 13.4 billion light-years away, which is approximately the same age as the Milky Way. The contradiction: if the Milky Way and GLASS-z13 are among the oldest galaxies in the Universe, why is GLASS-z13 located so far from the Milky Way? Furthermore, why are younger galaxies located much closer to the Milky Way?
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