2 years ago
What is beyond the edge of the universe?
Assuming that the universe started with a big bang and is still expanding outwards, then there must be some place where the known universe ends. What lies beyond?
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M$2 Answers
There are two ways you can think about this.
1. Space is expanding, and there is nothing outside of it. This means that space is infinite.
2. Space is expanding into something. This means that space is finite, and there is another space outside of it. But is that space finite, or infinite? If finite, what is outside of that space? Space must therefore be infinite.
It's more of a philosophical question, rather than a scientific question, since we don't yet have the technology to see out that far. Interestingly enough, we are able to see quite far out - almost to what people would say is the "edge" of the universe. However, because light only travels at the speed of light, the "edge" that we are able to see actually looks much older and less developed than it actually is. We're basically just looking back in time, rather than seeing what's out there. It is, however, quite a large distance away from us, a great source of information on the universe, and we can continue to observe it to learn about the early universe right after the Big Bang.
http://www.motodom.com/universe2dfslice2.gif
1. Space is expanding, and there is nothing outside of it. This means that space is infinite.
2. Space is expanding into something. This means that space is finite, and there is another space outside of it. But is that space finite, or infinite? If finite, what is outside of that space? Space must therefore be infinite.
It's more of a philosophical question, rather than a scientific question, since we don't yet have the technology to see out that far. Interestingly enough, we are able to see quite far out - almost to what people would say is the "edge" of the universe. However, because light only travels at the speed of light, the "edge" that we are able to see actually looks much older and less developed than it actually is. We're basically just looking back in time, rather than seeing what's out there. It is, however, quite a large distance away from us, a great source of information on the universe, and we can continue to observe it to learn about the early universe right after the Big Bang.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
Contemplating the edge of the universe gets me thinking immediately about what the word universe has come to mean.
Science is parses the word quite precisely, distinguishing between the observable universe, a second conceptual perspective on its meaning; and finally, using the proper noun "Universe" to hint what we understand is still beyond our comprehension.
James Sweitzer, Director of Astrophysics Education at the American Museum of Natural History's Rose Center for Earth and Space says,"the Universe," which, by virtue of its capital "U," includes "absolutely everything, even possibilities of dimensions, modes and regions that obey laws of physics we don't know or maybe even can't know."
Even the much discussed Big Bang is still acknowledged to be a theory.
From the same article quoting Swietzer above, "Some cosmologists say our observable universe is one of many that spring forth continually from a series of bubbles. In this scenario, one Big Bang begets another."
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/universe_overview_010605-1.html
The universe is expanding, we're told. But as for an edge?
I think one edge is our own limit to perceiving or accepting what may exist beyond our knowledge, or data, or what we can consciously persuade ourselves and others is true.
I think another edge is the human pattern of seeing beliefs and hypotheses as facts and truth, when more discovery sits just beyond that edge.
What do I think is beyond all edges?
• A coherence that keeps all existence whirling through space defying the odds we see at work in our own corner of the map.
• A core of reality that functions well beyond our control. And an opening we may one day step through after we relinquish a resistance to the unknowns that bedevil us as a species.
• A quality of harmony that words cannot fully convey.
• An eternity, not at war with itself.
Science is parses the word quite precisely, distinguishing between the observable universe, a second conceptual perspective on its meaning; and finally, using the proper noun "Universe" to hint what we understand is still beyond our comprehension.
James Sweitzer, Director of Astrophysics Education at the American Museum of Natural History's Rose Center for Earth and Space says,"the Universe," which, by virtue of its capital "U," includes "absolutely everything, even possibilities of dimensions, modes and regions that obey laws of physics we don't know or maybe even can't know."
Even the much discussed Big Bang is still acknowledged to be a theory.
From the same article quoting Swietzer above, "Some cosmologists say our observable universe is one of many that spring forth continually from a series of bubbles. In this scenario, one Big Bang begets another."
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/universe_overview_010605-1.html
The universe is expanding, we're told. But as for an edge?
I think one edge is our own limit to perceiving or accepting what may exist beyond our knowledge, or data, or what we can consciously persuade ourselves and others is true.
I think another edge is the human pattern of seeing beliefs and hypotheses as facts and truth, when more discovery sits just beyond that edge.
What do I think is beyond all edges?
• A coherence that keeps all existence whirling through space defying the odds we see at work in our own corner of the map.
• A core of reality that functions well beyond our control. And an opening we may one day step through after we relinquish a resistance to the unknowns that bedevil us as a species.
• A quality of harmony that words cannot fully convey.
• An eternity, not at war with itself.
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M$
You forgot the possibility that the universe is finite yet unbounded, that to go in one direction for a long enough time will have you eventually "wrap around" somehow and be coming back towards your starting point.
If the Universe is infinite, then *I* am at the center of it!
Think about it...
Whoa, I've never thought of the universe that way.
... ow, my brain hurts.