The universe(宇宙) likes to be shy about its age, but astronomers （天文学家）believe they have a pretty good idea of the range. Currently（目前）, the most widely accepted age for the universe is around 13.8 billion years, but determining the age of...well, everything, is no easy feat(并非易事).Now, new studies have investigated(调查研究) the question using different methods--and they've come up with two different answers, separated by more than a billion years.
Because the universe is expanding(膨胀，扩大) at an accelerating(加速的) pace, the further away an object（物体） is, the faster it appears to be moving away from us. This is expressed as the Hubble constant(哈勃常数),and it's a key factor in figuring out the age of the universe. After all, if we can determine how fast objects moving away from us, we can rewind（倒回） that process to its beginning—the Big Bang(大爆炸). Researchers from the University of Oregon set out to map(绘制…的图) the distance（距离） to dozens of galaxies（银河系）. The team calculated that the universe is only 12.6 billion years old—that, you might notice is much younger than the 13.8 years usually stated.
In the second study, the method of figuring out the age of the universe is by mapping the oldest light we can detect(探测). We are restoring(修复) the' baby photo' of the universe to its original condition, removing the wear and tear of time and space that distorted(扭曲）the image, says Neelima Sehgal, co-author on the study. Only by seeing this sharper baby photo or image of the universe can we more fully understand how our universe was born."In doing so, the researcher determined that the universe is 13.8 billion years old—in agreement with(与…一致) the accepted age.
The real problem though, is that the studies disagree so wildly with each other, to the tune of(共计，达到) a billion years. But they are not the only ones--the battle lines are commonly drawn by the methods used. Obviously（显而易见）, more research is needed to determine where the truth lies.
