The universe is currently estimated to be about 13.8 billion years old. From Laurel Hamer at ScienceNews:
That’s earlier than the 550 million years ago suggested in a previous estimate that also measured starlight from the early universe (SN Online: 2/9/2015). But it’s in the same ballpark as observations reported in March (SN: 3/31/18, p. 6), which suggest star formation began around 180 million years after the Big Bang. That conclusion, however, was drawn from radio signals rather than direct observations of starlight. “If [those] results were true, our results would independently support their claims that star formation activity had already initiated at a very early stage of the universe,” Hashimoto says. More.
If it holds up, this finding will throw some shade at cosmologies that require a longer lead time.
File under: The debate is never over. The science is never settled. That’s the talk of thug politicians, not of civilized people.
See also: At RealClearScience: Anti-religious feelings hindered acceptance of the Big Bang
“Complete surprise”: Stars are not necessarily born in the way we thought. Also, galaxies can form much faster than thought
and
The Big Bang: Put simply,the facts are wrong.