if the universe is about 180 billion light-years wide.
then what's at the ends of that width? a wall? a jelly skin? nothingness? a force that lets nothing go further? uhmm....
DJ Danny .
2006-08-07 09:19:51 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Depends. If you mean what if we could actually travel instantaneously to the 'edge' of the universe, then we're not sure what we would see. If the universe is infinite, we'll just see a bunch of stars and galaxies like we do from Earth (different ones of course) and we wouldn't be able to tell it was the 'edge'. If the universe is finite then it depends still on whether we are finite but flat or finite but curved. It seems we are flat, at least within our local Hubble-sphere (the part of the universe we can see), in which case, I have no idea. I guess we would see nothing. If it is a curved universe, then it could look infinite if the radius of curvature is HUGE (which it has to be by measurements), but if it was small, then we would be possible to look back at ourself in the past (like if you try walking around a baloon), you get back to where you started. So what you see really depends on the geometry. There wouldn't be a force that lets nothing go further since the universe itself is still expanding, and you are part of the universe.
Current measurements: the Universe is flat (and has at least 4 dimensions: 3 space, 1 time). String Theory says ~10 space, 1 time (I think)
If you mean what does it look like when we point our telescopes that far then we see what the universe looked like in the past. The universe is ~160 billion light-years wide, but it "looks" like it is only 13.6 light-years wide (that's how long the photons from the edge of the universe took to reach us, so that's the age of the universe). So as we start looking out that far, we start seeing the stars and galaxies disappear because they weren't around that long ago, and eventually we see a 'barrier' of microwave radiation (cosmic microwave background or CMB). This is the point where the universe cooled off enough so that photons (light) can travel without being absorbed by Hydrogen atoms (so atoms were just forming). We can't visually see past this point, but we know the physics of it well enough to make some predictions (that's why particle colliders becomes important).
2006-08-07 09:46:49 · answer #1 · answered by Davon 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
The universe doesn't have an edge.
What happens when you walk east on the Earth? Do you eventually get to the end? Is there a wall you can't cross? No. You just keep going.
The Earth is a mostly two-dimensional plane that is curved and closed in three dimensions.
The Universe is a mostly three-dimensional space that is curved and closed in an additional spatial dimension.
2006-08-07 16:27:29 · answer #2 · answered by TychaBrahe 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Actually the universe is only a few blocks long, but they wrap around in a big spiral. At one end is Starbucks and at the other is Macdonalds.
2006-08-07 16:23:50 · answer #3 · answered by stevewbcanada 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
its interesting question. well for sure there is no wall at end of universe . probably scientists are able to find not everything about universe.
2006-08-07 16:25:35 · answer #4 · answered by flori 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Read what I wrote on the fabric of space and their planes at this link. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ApBllCAmjOtRSZhAmk1G9hLzy6IX?qid=20060807133807AAWPAtz
2006-08-07 17:32:46 · answer #5 · answered by sbravosystems 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
anti-verse?? LOL
2006-08-07 16:23:52 · answer #6 · answered by DarkWolf_1st 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
there probably isn't
2006-08-07 16:24:44 · answer #7 · answered by zestful12 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋