where does this big Universe end? What could be beyond that?

Question

Does it mean that Science can never perceive things beyond a limit?

Answer 1

There is no "end" of the universe. There is no edge of the universe. If you were to travel in a straight line towards any direction in the universe, you would inevitably end up where you started. This is due to the curvature of the universe which is in conformity with Einsteins theory of relativty. The universe is not just a giant bubble. Space curves is such a way that makes it without boundry and infitnite.

Also, there is no "where" "outside" of the universe. The universe creates space as it expands so there really is no place outside of the universe for there is no outside.

Yes, it is very frustrating to believe or ponder upon, but thats the way it is.

Answer 2

The Universe does not have an end, because it is still expanding. As has been learned through the study of quantum physics, it is the perception itself, mixed with intention, that causes things to be perceived. Without this conscious perception, what you have is potential, or possibility. Electrons themselves have no particular intention about what they form into, including physical matter. It must come from some sort of consciousness. For us, that would mean thought energy, including intention, imagination, etc. Eventually, the energies that fuel the expansion of the Universe will dissipate, and the Universe will begin to contract. Everything physical moves in cycles, and this would be the largest cycle of all. From expansion to contraction, and vice versa. I haven't yet been able to conceive what that would appear as physically.

But remember, "science" doesn't perceive anything, because science is not a thing, it is a process. Science is the application of the "scientific method", which is created and defined by people, and changes over time. Science is the method that we study the world around us, but it's not the world around us.

Answer 3

Some day we something is going to happen that makes us open our eyes and see we were wrong, or right. We are part of a system that is so big none of us can really understand it, and that's only the part we can see. Maybe that is all that's there and maybe its not. Anything else we say is a guess.

Imagine you are an atom. You conserve your energy, expend it when its time, you live your life cycle. You are aware there are other atoms out there because once in a while they interact with you. You are part of a molecule. You discover that your molecule is actually part of a cell in which there are countless millions of molecules. Now you can define your universe. You know what the limits are.

You cant perceive something without giving it a limit.

Answer 4

Where does this big Universe end? What could be beyond that?

First, the only question that matters is the second one.
I'll explain, It's all relative. And logic, really.

Man can get as far as it's limitations will allow it to go.

One (logic) easy way to explain this, is this one:
You are in a little boat on a big lake, all you can see in any direction is water, nothing else.
You start to paddle for half an eternity, until there's land.
Then you'll start walking for almost another half eternity until you reach a brick wall.
You can't figure out a way to get past the brick wall, but you know there's something behind that wall.
The end of one is a beginning of the next one.
Logic's...


Now for the relative part:

It all depends of who's observing,the observers point of view and what's observed.
For example:
The observer is a scientist, in a lab on the earth. What he can observe is,
(logically) limited.
The smallest he can observe, (magnification of his microscope as limiting factor), are electrons, protons and neutrons.
The biggest he can observe, (magnification of his telescope as limiting factor) are other solar systems in our Universe.
Between these, he can also observe with his own eyes, for example the moon and the sun.


From this point, things can get a little bit more complicated.

Logic's, Relativity and the Observed mentioned above mixed, results in Science:
A logarithm will appear.
Distance is set on the horizontal scale, while size is set on the horizontal scale.
The resulting graph will be linear with a positive inclination.
This linear function can be extended beyond the smallest observing, as well as the biggest observing. Because at least 3 points on this graph are known, it is (theoretically) possible to calculate what's beyond the limitations.
Without calculating can be concluded that there is something smaller than electrons, as well that there is something bigger than "the big Universe".


What that "something bigger" is..
(Here Science fades into Philosophy)
One answer can be this one, one that's not proved to be right by the way.... Yet..
Beyond our universe will be more of them. Different ones and ones like ours. They'll interact with another, like different or similar atoms in a molecule, resulting in building stones for something bigger, living or non living entities. I can write whole books full of this, but I think I've explained enough for you to
understand that giving an answer to this questing only will result in more questions.

If someone wants to know more, leave a message [e-mail]

Answer 5

Some current models suggest that the Universe is actually infinite in extent. In any event, the "visible Universe" consists of only those bodies that were within 13.7 billion light years of Earth's current position, 13.7 billion years ago. The Universe hasn't existed long enough for light from objects that were further away at that time to have reached us yet. Those objects have been moving further away from us during that time, so the current radius of the visible Universe is greater than 13.7 billion light years. If the Universe is finite in extent, beyond it is just empty space into which the Universe is expanding.

Answer 6

The edge which expands at the speed of light is actually just an
event horizon. It is not a real edge -- just a bound on how far we
can see. As time goes by, light originating from the very earliest
times of the universe has had longer to reach us, and thus can
have travelled a greater distance, and thus we can see further.

There is an edge to the "visible" universe, which is the point
from which light travelling since the origin of the universe has
had time to reach us. This edge depends on the observer. It is
analogous to the horizon: there is no real "edge", just a limit
to how far we can see. In fact, the word "horizon" is often used;
which is much better than edge.

The only measure that we can actually count on is how far we can see not on how far the "horizon" of the universe is from where we are looking.

Answer 7

It doesn't end, and there is nothing beyond it. It is the entirety of existence. It is finite, but infinitely finite - it has no edges. And it appears to be uniform in every direction and expanding.

I can't image what would or could be beyond this universe. It is beyond my grasp. Heck what I just said above is beyond my grasp.

I keep reading Hawkings "A Short History of Time" and always feel that I almost grasp it, but not quite.

Answer 8

It may not end but there is a limit to how far we can see because light decays with time. Also the deeper we look into space the farther back time we observe. A picture of deep space was printed in the Smithsonian magazine which was not pretty and so there should be little interest in looking deeper.

Answer 9

The universe does not have an end. Imagine that you took someone from a 2D Earth and brought them to our earth, the person would try to find the edge of the earth, but they would end up back where they started. The universe is the same way, we'll just end up where we started.

Answer 10

If the Universe ends at the end, then how can there be anything beyond that? Perhaps you're hoping for an encore performance?