Question

Approximately, how old is the Milky Way?

a. 2.5 trillion years
b. 18.5 million years
c. 13.5 billion years
d. 10.5 trillion years

Answer 1

The Milky Way is approximately 13.5 billion years old, estimated by the age of its oldest stars found in ancient globular clusters.

Step-by-step explanation:

The approximate age of the Milky Way galaxy can be determined by examining its oldest constituents, such as the ancient globular clusters it contains. These clusters harbor stars that are at least 13 billion years old, and it is proposed that some of these stars were born less than a billion years after the universe began to expand.

Considering that the universe itself is estimated to be around 13.8 billion years old, this places the birth of the Milky Way at close to the beginning of the universe. Hence, the correct answer to the question of how old the Milky Way is approximately c. 13.5 billion years.