Big Bang radiation shows universe is 48 million years older than originally thought
SCIENTISTS have discovered the universe is 48 million years older than originally thought by analysing the afterglow left by the Big Bang.
By looking at the radiation imprint a split second after the Big Bang experts have discovered the universe is 13.82 billion years old.
Scientists captured the ground-breaking image using the £510 million Planck space telescope which discovered the oldest light the ever seen.
Planck scientist Dr Joanna Dunkley, from Oxford University, said: "The sizes of these tiny ripples hold the key to what happened in that first trillionth of a trillionth of a second.
"Planck has given us striking new evidence that indicates they were created during this incredibly fast expansion, just after the Big Bang."
The image was produced by the European Space Agency after studying the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) for more than 15 months.
The moment dates back to when the universe was just 380,000 years old, making the glow of the CMB the oldest light ever seen.
At that time the cosmos consisted of a formless hot primordial soup of energetic particles.
Evidence from Planck has also provided answers to how the mass-energy of the universe is divided up into parts that are visible and hidden.
Normal matter that forms stars and galaxies contributes just 4.9%, according to the findings.
Dark matter, whose nature is still unknown and can only be detected by its gravitational influence, makes up 26.8%.
Mysterious dark energy, believed to be the driving force behind the expansion of the universe, accounts for around 69%.