Time for Everything Imaginable to Occur, Time for Everything to Transpire.

Greetings. The age of the universe. 

In classical cosmology, the age of the universe is defined as the length of time elapsed since the Big Bang, the explosion that birthed the universe as we know it. Astronomers have derived two different measurements of the age of the universe:

1. A measurement based on direct observations of an infant state of the universe, which indicate an age of approximately 13.787±0.020 billion years. 

2. A measurement based on the observations of the local, modern universe, which suggest a younger age overall.

The uncertainty of the first measurement mentioned has been narrowed down to about 20 million years, based on a number of studies that all have reached a scientific consensus showing similar mathematical figures for the universe's age. These studies include long term examinations of the microwave background radiation by the Planck spacecraft, the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, and other space probes of note. Measurements of the cosmic background radiation give the cooling time of the universe since the Big Bang, and measurements of the expansion rate of the universe can be used to calculate its approximate age by extrapolating backwards in time. The range of the estimate is also within the range of the estimate for the oldest observed star in the universe. With such a monumentally vast length of time, it is logical to assume that almost everything imaginable to the human mind may have come to pass in one form or another. What does that really mean? 

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." 

The above quote, from William Shakespeare's "Hamlet," is only too appropriate for this particular article. We can only imagine what wonders the universe contains, and we will never know with any kind of certainly about them all. We are only as capable as our craniums allow, and that will always be the case unless some extraordinary evolutionary event(s) take place. (Or another more advanced species takes our place in the terrestrial biosphere.) The vastness of outer space offers innumerable possibilities for alien biospheres, natural wonders, and technologically advanced extraterrestrials. Post-apocalyptic worlds, planets populated by creatures that resemble Earth's own long extinct non-avian dinosaurs, aliens so advanced as to be almost unimaginably godlike (I don't believe in a deity by the way,) or worlds wanting of any sort of technologically capable organisms, primitive yet peaceful. 

The human imagination has produced the works of Mozart, Einstein, and Led Zeppelin. We have split the atom, and helped millions survive diseases that would have killed them off in centuries past. Humans have landed on the Moon, solved some of the mysteries of the universe, and managed to survive world conflicts that placed our species' survival in doubt. Yet after all that, the universe and its mysteries awaits, beyond our comprehension, beyond our ability to perceive in its totality. 

Thank you for your time and consideration.