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The difficulty is in estimating the distance to the furthest galaxies.

Before the discovery that nearly all galaxies beyond the Local Group were moving away from us (by analyzing the red shift in their spectra) it was assumed the Universe was ageless.

However, by determining that the furthest galaxies were moving fastest away from us, Astronomers extrapolated backwards to arrive at the presently estimated time period - 13.7 billion years (when everything would have started in one spot).

However, calculating the actual distance to other galaxies is very difficult. For nearer galaxies, stars known as Cepheid Variables (whose absolute brightness is directly correlated to their period of variability) can be used to accurately estimate the distance to those galaxies.

However, Astronomers must rely upon less well understood phenomena to calculate distances, and without that precise measuring stick, the exact age of the Universe cannot be determined.

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16y ago

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