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Physical cosmology
Big Bang · Universe Age of the universe Chronology of the universe
Early universe Planck epoch Grand unification epoch Quark epoch Hadron epoch Lepton epoch Photon epoch Big Bang nucleosynthesis Inflation Dark Ages Backgrounds Cosmic background radiation (CBR) Gravitational wave background (GWB) Cosmic microwave background (CMB) · Cosmic neutrino background (CNB) Cosmic infrared background (INB)
Expansion · Future Hubble's law · Redshift Expansion of the universe Accelerating expansion of the universe FLRW metric · Friedmann equations Inhomogeneous cosmology Future of an expanding universe Ultimate fate of the universe Heat death of the universe Big Rip Big Crunch Big Bounce
Components · Structure Components Lambda-CDM model Baryonic matter Energy Radiation Dark energy Quintessence Phantom energy Dark matter Cold dark matter Warm dark matter Hot dark matter Dark radiation Structure Shape of the universe Reionization · Structure formation Galaxy formation Large-scale structure Large quasar group Galaxy filament Supercluster Galaxy cluster Galaxy group Local Group Void
Experiments BOOMERanG Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) Illustris project Planck space observatory Dark Energy Survey Euclid Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey ("2dF") Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP)
Scientists Aaronson Alfvén Alpher Bharadwaj Copernicus de Sitter Dicke Ehlers Einstein Ellis Friedman Galileo Gamow Guth Hawking Hubble Lemaître Linde Mather Newton Penrose Penzias Rubin Schmidt Smoot Starobinsky Steinhardt Suntzeff Sunyaev Tolman Wilson Zel'dovich
Subject history Discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation History of the Big Bang theory Religious interpretations of the Big Bang theory Timeline of cosmological theories
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In cosmology, the age of the universe is the amount of time since the Big Bang. The best measurement of the age of the Universe is 13.8 billion years (specifically, 13.798±0.037 billion years).^[1][2] The most recent and most accurate measurements were made by the Planck spacecraft. These measurements were made using the cosmic microwave background radiation and the expansion of the Universe.

A conclusion from one mathematical model, says that the age of the Universe is about 26.7 billion years: that was published July 2023 in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.^{[3][4][3][4][3]}"^[3]

In the 1800s, evidence from geology showed that the Earth was at least millions of years old. Later, it was thought that the universe was unchanging. However, in the 1920s, Georges Lemaître and Edwin Hubble determined that the universe was expanding (see Hubble's law). Although the estimates made using the initial data were low, radioactive dating on Earth could be used to give measurements of 11–20 billion years^[5] to 13–15 billion years.^[6][7] Eventually, scientists were able to make much better measurements using spacecraft.

Unknown, though there are various theories to explain the possible future of planet Earth. There are various scientific theories that explains how the Earth might end. Among of them, one of the most popular theories is that the Sun will eventually become a red giant and consume the Earth.^[8] However, there are other logical theories that explain how the Earth might end.