How did everything begin? It’s a question that humans have pondered for thousands of years. Over the last century or so, science has homed in on an answer: the Big Bang.

This describes how the Universe was born in a cataclysmic explosion almost 14 billion years ago. In a tiny fraction of a second, the observable universe grew by the equivalent of a bacterium expanding to the size of the Milky Way. The early universe was extraordinarily hot and extremely dense. But how do we know this happened?

Let’s look first at the evidence. In 1929, the American astronomer Edwin Hubble discovered that distant galaxies are moving away from each other, leading to the realisation that the universe is expanding.

There is a massive black hole with millions of times more mass than our sun is plunging towards Earth and will one day annihilate life as we know it. This particular black hole is coming towards us at 110 kilometres per second and is at the center of the Great Andromeda Galaxy – the Milky Way’s closest and much larger neighbor.

At the center of the most known galaxies, there exist a supermassive black hole which stars spin around and helps keep everything in formation. But such is the powerful gravitational pull of the Milky Way and Andromeda that they are being drawn toward each other and will one day crash.

New model suggests the universe could be a staggering 26.7 billion years old.

Rethinking the Age of the Universe

A recent study led by Rajendra Gupta, a physics professor at the University of Ottawa, proposes that the universe might be twice as old as current estimates suggest. This study, published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, challenges established cosmological models, proposing that the universe could be 26.7 billion years old instead of the widely accepted 13.8 billion years. Gupta’s findings offer a potential solution to various unresolved astronomical mysteries, such as the existence of mature galaxies seen shortly after the Big Bang and stars that seem older than the universe itself.

Scientists are rethinking the timing of Betelgeuse’s supernova, as new research suggests the star may have a hidden companion, known as Betelbuddy. This companion could be responsible for Betelgeuse’s unusual brightening and dimming patterns.

The discovery opens up new possibilities, including the idea that Betelbuddy might be a young star or even something more exotic, like a neutron star. Researchers are working to confirm Betelbuddy’s existence, which could dramatically change what we know about Betelgeuse and its eventual explosion.

Betelgeuse and Betelbuddy.

An ultramassive black hole is a black hole that has a mass of more than 10 billion times the mass of the sun. Black holes are regions of space where gravity is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape. They are usually formed when massive stars collapse at the end of their life cycle.

Ultramassive black holes are rare and elusive, and their origins are unclear. Some scientists believe they were formed from the extreme merger of massive galaxies billions of years ago when the universe was still young.