The Young Age Of Globular Clusters The Young Age Of Globular Clusters By Paul Nethercott January 2013 Introduction Globular clusters are considered by evolutionists to be the oldest structures in the universe.1-4 According to a recent astronomy magazine article they are over ten billion years old. 4 When neutron stars are formed they are ejected [kicked] out at hundreds of kilometres per second. The time to escape from the centre to the outer edge is only a few thousand years. If they form only once every million years per cluster there should only be a few in every cluster. Many clusters have hundreds or thousands which indicates youth. This lines up with them being created only a few thousand years ago. A recent article admits this is a problem that evolutionists need to resolve: “There is mounting evidence that as many as 1000 neutron stars (NSs) may be present in some of the richest globular clusters in the Galaxy, which perhaps amounts to more than 10%–20% of the NSs ever formed in each cluster. Such a large NS retention fraction is seemingly at odds with recent estimates of the characteristic “kick” speeds of single radio pulsars in the Galaxy, ranging from roughly 5 to 10 times the central escape speeds of the most massive globular clusters. This retention problem is a long-standing mystery.”5 If we know the radius of the globular cluster and how fast the stars are shot out we can work out escape times. We find the ratio of the stars velocity to the speed of light and multiply the inverse by the radius of the cluster: c t r v (1) T= escape time in years C= Velocity of light, kilometres per second. V= Velocity of neutron star, kilometres per second. R = Radius of the globular cluster in light years In the table below we can see a summary for 148 globular clusters.6 Even at a slow speed of only 50 kilometres per second, the maximum age is only 5.5 million years. Using a very modest speed of 200 kilometres per second would give an average age of only 200 thousand years. The clusters a supposed to be billions of years old! Table 1. Escape times summary from 148 Globular Clusters Escape Time Years 50 Km/sec 100 Km/sec 200 Km/sec 300 Km/sec 450 Km/sec Minimum Time 107,580 53,790 26,895 17,930 11,953 Minimum Time 5,570,688 2,785,344 1,392,672 928,448 618,965 Average Time 838,820 419,410 209,705 139,803 93,202 www.creation.com Page 1 The Young Age Of Globular Clusters The Messier Clusters The Messier catalogue contains 29 globular clusters.7 Their physical sizes were taken from online catalogues.8-36 Table 2. Messier Globular Clusters, Escape Times Globular Clusters Max Age Minimum Age Clusters Radius Evolutionist Age Name Years Years Light Years Billion Years Messier 2 261,900 58,200 87 13,000 Messier 3 270,000 60,000 90 8,000 Messier 4 105,000 23,333 35 12,200 Messier 5 240,000 53,333 80 13,000 Messier 9 135,000 30,000 45 12,000 Messier 10 124,800 27,733 41.6 11,390 Messier 12 111,600 24,800 37.2 12,670 Messier 13 252,000 56,000 84 11,650 Messier 14 150,000 33,333 50 14,200 Messier 15 264,000 58,667 88 12,000 Messier 19 210,000 46,667 70 11,900 Messier 22 150,000 33,333 50 12,000 Messier 28 90,000 20,000 30 12,000 Messier 30 279,000 62,000 93 12,930 Messier 53 660,000 146,667 220 12,670 Messier 54 459,000 102,000 153 13,000 Messier 55 144,000 32,000 48 12,300 Messier 56 126,000 28,000 42 13,700 Messier 62 147,000 32,667 49 11,780 Messier 68 159,000 35,333 53 11,200 Messier 69 126,000 28,000 42 13,060 Messier 70 102,000 22,667 34 12,800 Messier 71 39,000 8,667 13 9,500 Messier 72 126,000 28,000 42 9,500 Messier 75 201,000 44,667 67 9,500 Messier 79 354,000 78,667 118 11,700 Messier 80 144,000 32,000 48 12,540 Messier 92 357,000 79,333 119 14,200 Messier 107 118,500 26,333 39.5 13,950 The fastest escape times assume a speed of 450 kilometres per second and the slowest, 100 kilometres per second. Even using the slowest speed, the maximum age is only 660 thousand years. According to current estimates 8-36 they are between eight and sixteen billion years old. www.creation.com Page 2 The Young Age Of Globular Clusters Table 3. Summary of escape times from 29 Messier globular clusters. Escape Time Years Minimum 8,667 Maximum 660,000 Average 104,653 Neutron Star Kick Speeds Examining the current literature, 37-54 neutron stars have more than enough speed to exit a globular cluster in a few thousand years. The escape velocity [Table 10] from the globular clusters gravitational pull is on average only 20 kilometres per second. Many kick speeds are ten or twenty times that value. Table 4. Neutron Star Kick Speeds Kick Speed Magazine Kick Speed Magazine Km/Second Reference Km/Second Reference 50-750 39 260 37 90 47 290 37 100 45, 48, 49 300 42, 45 100-200 42 330 46 100-300 39 400 39, 52 100-500 39 450 40, 43, 45, 46 110-800 39 480-2370 39 200-500 41 500 41, 42, 44, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 53 175 46 700 46, 51 200 38, 44, 45, 50, 51, 52, 53 1000 38, 41, 44, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53 225 37 1600 46 The average kick speed listed in popular astronomy magazine articles is over 500 kilometres per second. Table 5. Statistical Summary of Table 4 Kick Speed Km/Second Average 519 Maximum 2370 Minimum 50 The Astrophysical Journal 54 lists the kick speeds of 49 neutron stars. The average speed is 384 kilometres per second. The minimum speed is 162 kilometres per second. That is eight times the average escape velocity from a normal globular cluster. www.creation.com Page 3 The Young Age Of Globular Clusters Table 6. Neutron Star Kick Speeds 54 Pulsar Kick Speed Error Margin Pulsar Kick Speed Error Margin Number Km/Sec Km/Sec Number Km/Sec Km/Sec 136+57 340 137 1508+55 755 35 329+54 219 80 1556+44 196 94 355+54 210 87 1600+49 489 370 450+55 255 72 1642+3 196 89 458+46 191 111 1706+16 186 137 525+21 286 129 1749+28 162 117 531+21 228 98 1818+4 333 98 540+23 348 193 1822+9 187 112 611+22 212 88 1842+14 550 275 626+24 278 149 1911+4 254 123 628+28 351 121 1917+0 244 102 630+17 212 89 1929+10 167 85 643+80 283 63 1933+16 996 324 656+14 331 167 1946+35 435 224 736+40 377 236 1953+50 1546 245 740+28 276 108 2020+28 192 98 818+13 423 155 2021+51 182 78 823+26 220 32 2045+16 393 73 833+45 226 145 2053+36 242 120 834+6 190 39 2110+27 445 93 906+17 191 57 2154+40 1043 200 943+10 374 89 2217+47 417 193 1133+16 463 88 2224+65 1661 276 1426+66 354 83 2351+61 411 194 1449+64 337 87 Table 7.Statistical Summary of Table 6 Kick Speed Km/Second Average 384 Maximum 1,661 Minimum 162 The Zou Catalogue of Neutron Star Kick Speeds This catalogue was compiled in 2005 by scientists from China and the CSIRO in Australia 55. It lists the velocities of 74 neutron stars 56, giving the average speed as over 1,000 kilometres per second. Using this as an average our calculations would make the average ages of globular clusters in the Milky Way galaxy only tens of thousands of years old. www.creation.com Page 4 The Young Age Of Globular Clusters Table 8. Zou Catalogue of Neutron Star Kick Speeds 56 Velocity Km/Second Maximum 11,000 Minimum 10 Average 1,094 It lists in a second table the velocities of 16 neutron stars 57, giving the average speed as over 1,000 kilometres per second. The velocity calculations are supposed to be much more accurate that the first table. Using this as an average our calculations would again make the average ages of globular clusters in the Milky Way galaxy only tens of thousands of years old. Table 9. Zou Catalogue of Neutron Star Kick Speeds 57 Radial Velocity A Velocity B Velocities Km/Sec Km/Sec Average 355 1,039 Maximum 2,200 7,300 Minimum 0 36 The Toscano Catalogue of Neutron Star Kick Speeds This catalogue was compiled in 1999 by scientists from USA and the CSIRO in Australia 58. It lists the velocities of 23 neutron stars 59, giving the average speed as over 80 kilometres per second. Eight of these are in binary systems. 60 Using this as an average our calculations would make the average ages of globular clusters in the Milky Way galaxy only tens of thousands of years old.