How do we know the age of our universe ?

[Verusamore]

Would I travel further-out or travel farther-in to find out ?

 

How do we know that the objects that exist farther-in toward the original point of BB are new , when only one BB has occured .

 

for example :

I represent space being water .

I represent a stone being an object .

I drop the stone in the water ,the stone blows up as it reached a critical point,the water splashes and ripples expanding in an outwards motion pushing current water and creating a new type of water which exists in our known universe called 'dark energy' being the bond that glues our universe

 

The particles & matter created from this stone expand with the water as the movement is exerted by the ever expanding dark energy .

 

The final point of expansion is where the matter has travelled the furthest point ,does this typically mean that this matter is also the oldest ?

 

Or is everything the same age as long as it exists within the reaches of dark energy ?

[Verusamore]

Was there 1 BB then a series of other chain reactions of SB ( small-bangs ) ?

 

How do we know that the original BB isn't a small-bang compared to a possibly greater one ?

[Verusamore]

If Earth is said to be 4.5 billion years old and the universe being 13.* then how is earth younger than the total age of the universe when only one known big bang has caused all matter that exists within our universe to age differently .

 

Or unless

Was there 1 BB then a series of other chain reactions of SB ( small-bangs ) ?

Or the

the original BB is a smaller-bang compared to a possibly greater one ?

[swansont]

If Earth is said to be 4.5 billion years old and the universe being 13.* then how is earth younger than the total age of the universe when only one known big bang has caused all matter that exists within our universe to age differently .

 

The eartg is dated to ~4.5 billion years because that's the age of the matter in that form. Before that it was supernova leftovers that eventually coelesced. Before that it was part of a star, and prior to that a different star, in the form of hydrogen.

 

It's not that things aged differently. You are measuring to different starting points.

[Verusamore]

Yeah that was what I was thinking .

You are measuring to different starting points.

[RawThinkTank]

we dont.

 

The distant objects that we see 13 billion light years back; It must have took them trillions of years to reach there from the center of the universe.

[Severian]

WMAP has given us the best estimates for the age of the universe so far. Take a look here:

http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_uni/uni_101age.html

[MOTP]

How do we know the universe had a beginning?