The Universe is thought to have popped into existence some 13.8 billion years ago when an infinitesimal point expanded billions of lightyears across in just a fraction of a second. The Big Bang theory has stood for the best part of 100 years after Belgian physicist Georges Lemaître first proposed in 1927 the expansion of the Universe could be traced back to a single point. However, the well-accepted model is now under the microscope after a team of researchers found a star which appears to be older than the cosmos.
A star know as “Methuselah star”, or scientifically called HD 140283, is situated about 200 million lightyears away and has stumped experts.
Analysis of the star showed that it contained very little iron content, which would suggest that it formed during a period when the iron element was not abundant in the Universe.
This in turn led to the discovery the star is 14.5 billion years old, some 0.7 billion years older than the Universe.
Experts met at a conference in California in July in an attempt to solve the mystery, but so far questions have just led to more questions – and it could lead to a “scientific revolution”.