• How Old is the Universe?

• Location: Lifelab
• Duration: 1 hour
• Availability: On demand
• Age Ranges(s): 16+, KS4
• Minimum Number: 12
• Maximum Number: 24

Participants look at some of the spectacular deep field images recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope and use these to calculate the age of the Universe. Participants measure size of selected galaxies to calculate distance and the red-shifts of their spectra to calculate the relative distances and velocities. These results are then used to calculate a value for the Hubble constant and finally to determine a value for the age of the Universe. This workshop is an excellent example of How Science Works as consider evidence for the Big Bang and how the paradigm has shifted from the steady state universe since the mid-twentieth century.

• How_Old_is_the_Universe_Risk_Assessment.pdf