What defines what we refer to as the "universe", and is there anything beyond the "universe"?

Answer 1

The universe is everything everywhere. It is infinite. It is not expanding. Just the little minds in our tiny part of it think so. Our little piece, ostensibly created by "The Big Bang", which is a repetitive cycle, period unknown (for now) but at least 30 or so billion years, just keeps plodding along. There are no parallel universes, as they would be encompassed in the universe, so that is just a retarded phrase.

Answer 2

Well, here's NASA's definition at the moment:
The Universe is a huge wide-open space that holds everything from the smallest particle to the biggest galaxy. No one knows just how big the Universe is. Astronomers try to measure it all the time. They use a special instrument called a spectroscope to tell whether an object is moving away from Earth or toward Earth. Based on the information from this instrument, scientists have learned that the Universe is still growing outward in every direction.

Scientists believe that about 13.7 billion years ago, a powerful explosion called the Big Bang happened. This powerful explosion set the Universe into motion and this motion continues today. Scientists are not yet sure if the motion will stop, change direction, or keep going forever.
http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/universe_level1/universe.html

Here's Cornell University's take on what the universe is expanding into:
However, if you just want a short answer, I'll say this: if the universe is infinitely big, then the answer is simply that it isn't expanding into anything; instead, what is happening is that every region of the universe, every distance between every pair of galaxies, is being "stretched", but the overall size of the universe was infinitely big to begin with and continues to remain infinitely big as time goes on, so the universe's size doesn't change, and therefore it doesn't expand into anything. If, on the other hand, the universe has a finite size, then it may be legitimate to claim that there is something "outside of the universe" that the universe is expanding into. However, because we are, by definition, stuck within the space that makes up our universe and have no way to observe anything outside of it, this ceases to be a question that can be answered scientifically. So the answer in that case is that we really don't know what, if anything, the universe is expanding into.
See the rest of the article, it's really good.
http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=274

This article describes in detail the composition of the universe:
http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_uni/uni_101matter.html

Answer 3

The universe is comprised of an undefinable number of unrelated, non-linear, non-sequential events. Because the light from over 15 billion light years away did not get here yet, it is not known if the universe ends. We know that the universe is at least 30 billion light years in diameter.

A reasonable assumption would be that the universe does not end at the point that we can no longer see beyond. One of the popular theories is that the universe is infinite. If this is the case, there is never a point that is beyond the universe. Another theory is the Big Bang theory where nothing exploded and created the universe. This seems unreasonable if you properly visualize nothing - no light, no darkness, no atoms, no electrons, no neutrons, no photons, nothing. In order for this theory to work, the Universe has to have a beginning, has to have an end, all of the events have to be traveling on paths relative to each other, and there has to have always been something. Paths only exist when events are relative to each other. In a universe of unrelated, non-sequential events, there are no paths and there is no movement in space.

It is hard for human beings with logical thought to accept that we just exist and the idea seems illogical. So, the question remains to be where did we come from and where are we going. What was this something that exploded when there was nothing and created the universe.

Answer 4

The "Universe" has been defined as the solar system that we are in, or as the entire space around our solar system.

Actually, this is a very hard to understand concept, and also rather disturbing if you really think about it. But hear goes.

As people on this tiny planet, we tend to think that everything had a beginning and has an end at some point. After all, we were born, and we die. The planet we live on is known to be so old, and will probably at some point end. Our entire existence is based on the idea that everything had to begin somewhere, and end somewhere.

That may not be true, however, for the universe. It may have always been and will always be.

It may not have an "end" nor would it have had a beginning. When you really sit down and think about this.......it truly is a little disturbing. Probably because it goes against everything we (as humans) have believed as truth since the "beginning"

It also tells us how small and insignificant we are in the "big picture" when you stop and think about it, we have made a major impact on this planet, but in the "universe" we are so small that we really don't even matter.......and are most likely not even known about.

Answer 5

The universe is the reality that streches from the earth and beyond infinity. We don't know if this universe has a limit because no one has seen it yet. The existence of multiple universes stemmed from our inference that if there are many planets, many stars, many galaxies, then maybe there are many universes.

No has actually seen another universe because anything that exists within this reality -- be it tangible or intangible -- is part of this universe.

We also assumed that our universe is a monolithic set of matter and concept. However, we might be in an intersection of universes and there is no way to discern which things are indigenously part of our original universe and which things are part of an intersecting universe because both things occur in the intersection. This intersection could happen much like galaxies sometimes collide.

Our universe might even be a small speck of an even larger omniverse, much like a drop of water from the ocean.

What lies beyond the omniverse, our science cannot explain and religion tries to put reason to. We can only imagine and marvel because it extends beyond our comprehension.

The ocean, no matter how great it is, has its limit. Beyond it is another kind of reality.

Answer 6

There are two definitions of the "universe"

One common definition is everything there is. According to that definition there wouldn't be anything beyond it--by definition.

Another definition would be all the matter and energy and space that resulted from the big bang about 13 billion years ago. That would encompass all the observable stars, galaxies particles, gas, radio waves, light, xrays, cosmic rays, etc we can see and detect, and some that we can't detect (because they are now too far away for any signal to reach us).

Astronomers speculate that this universe-- all the matter and energy that exists subsequent to the big bang might be just one of many, possibly billions, possibly infinite numbers of universes,
which so far are undetectable by us, and may always be so.

According to this definition, then there may be a lot beyond the universe, but we may never be able to detect it.

Answer 7

Depends on who you ask, looks like. Here is what I believe: We live in a local universe which is part of a super universe which is one of seven super-universes which make up the evolving universes of time and space. These circulate around a central universe of perfect creation already finished. At the center of that is Paradise and it's associated spheres. Farther out than the seven super-universes are the outer space levels that are now forming and will be inhabited at some future date. Beyond that, infinity is only potential so far.

Answer 8

The universe is anything that we can perceive with the five sense. In reality there is no way to tell if there is actually a universe outside our minds. It's much less likely to tell whether there is something beyond the universe. To an extent, it takes a kind of faith to believe in what your senses and reason tell you. It's all we have to perceive this world so if you'd like, the universe is whatever you want it to be.

Answer 9

I cant beat these other answers, but let Me tell You this. If You could travel at the speed of light for a thousand billion years and still not reach the end of it,which is true, then We are just like a grain of sand on the beach. What ever is beyond the edge is beyond Your imagination. Dont waste another minute thinking about it. That is why most human beings believe in God.

Answer 10

I learned in astrophysics class that the universe could be considered only that which we can directly observe, a "bubble" about with a diameter of many trillions of light years.

But what if the "observable universe" isn't all that exists? What if our powers of observation aren't sufficient to encompass all that there is? Then maybe there's more to the universe than what we can observe. And without a way to know what we're not seeing, we can only assume that there may be vastly more substance to the universe than we're able to detect.

As for what's beyond it, um, have you ever seen that movie 2001? :)

Answer 11

According to the present astronomical knowledge what we have, the stars and the planets and all the animate and inanimated things comprise of the Universe. But beyond our knowledge it is believed that there may be so many objects which are still out of our perception. Time only can unfold this mystery.