Big Bang Pushed Back?

Recent astronomical surveys indicate that the age of the universe may be off, according to an article in New Scientist magazine. By comparing the measurements of two stars, the new analysis indicates that they are 3.14 million light-years apart, about a half a million light-years further apart than previous estimates.

The discrepancy comes in considering the Hubble constant, which was used to perform the previous estimations of the expansion rate and age of the galaxy. The value used for the constant could be off by as much as 15%, which would mean that the universe is 15% larger and older than current estimates have predicted. This would expand the age of the universe from 13.7 billion years old to 15.8 billion years old, if further measurements confirm the revised value of Hubble's "constant."