If you were to be positioned exactly in the dead centre of all of the galaxies and if you were to travel away from this 'dead centre' point in a radial direction, where exactly would you end up ?
2006-08-20 02:57:21 · 28 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Do not start on this subject it has worried me since I was about eight. (Along time ago) The point is, if it goes on forever, how can that be? It doesn't make sense. BUT, if it ends, what the heck is on the other side.
Thanks for that, I shan't sleep again tonight!
Just read some of the other answers, if space is expanding, what is it expanding into???
2006-08-20 03:03:22 · answer #1 · answered by Linda G 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Ok, I need to clear this up since people are confused.
The observable universe is finite and this is a fact. 'WMAP' and 'COBE' prove the universe is finite, please, the definition of infinity only seems to be understood by about 0.01% of the population. That and when WMAP mapped the cosmic background radiation in the sky it matched their finite model and none of their observations have made any sense under infinite conditions.
We have no clue if anything exists outside the universe, but the fact of the matter is, the universe is defined as by what is observable, so therefore it is finite.
And if you think I'm a fool you can quote other scientists, or say, a quote I quickly grabbed off space: "The observable universe is finite," Sweitzer said
The universe also has no true center, but anyway, you should simply keep traveling away from this 'dead center' FOREVER.
Why? Because the universe is expanding and the space within it is also expanding...and we have no means of travel to travel nearly fast enough to somehow beat the expansion and come back to where we started.
However ok assuming you had no speed limit, which is IMPOSSIBLE ANYWAY you should come back to where you started, but I don't like to think about things that are impossible xD
But where you end up depends on the shape of the universe, which is not 100% known. So we could actually never end up back where we started even with a limitless speed.
2006-08-20 11:33:41 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Space is finite.
Even if we cannot observe it all.
Those who believe in the Big Bang believe that there is no centre, but this relies on the assumption of the cosmological or copernican principle, which implies that the universe has no centre and no edge.
This is an arbitrary assumption, and essentially an atheistic one, since it denies the importance of earth.
There is an alternative cosmology, with the earth at the centre.
If you could keep going outwards indefinitely from the earth then you would eventually reach the edge of the universe, beyond which there is nothing - not space, not a vacuum, not even time.
Check out the link below for lots of articles - some fairly technical.
2006-08-20 13:33:09 · answer #3 · answered by a Real Truthseeker 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You might end up where you first started if the universal shape has curvature. You might simply end up outside the bounds of the universe into a void that doesn't consist of anything at all - not even dark matter and dark energy. That might be impossible. You might pass through the void and into another universe.
Yeah alright I don't really know...
Of course scientist cannot pinpoint the dead centre of this universe. If the universe is flat as some believe then if you travel radially "upward" you might get to the void quicker than if you travelled along the "flat plane".
2006-08-21 05:40:03 · answer #4 · answered by philturner66 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
First you should forget about the universe having any center--there is none. This is because at the instant of the Big Bang which created the universe, all of space first came into existence. You can think of this as the universe happening everywhere at once, therefore no center. All this, of course, assumes that the universe didn't begin within some "thing" else, and there's absolutely not a single shred of evidence that such is the case.
All recent research, primarily the COBE and WMAP programs, strongly suggest that the universe is infinite--it will continue to expand indefinitely.
By definition, the "universe" is everything there ever was, is now, or ever will be. To observe and analyze some thing into which our universe is expanding would require us to somehow leave our universe, along with all of its physical laws that make our existence even possible. Wondering about what's beyond our universe is like standing precisely at the North Pole and asking what lies farther north.
2006-08-20 10:29:29 · answer #5 · answered by Chug-a-Lug 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Dont quote me on this but I have read that there is not actually a centre of the entire universe because it is shaped in a way thet normal people can not understand. However, ignoring that, and imagining that there was a centre, and you did travel in a straight line at a very fast speed and infinitly, you apparently would end up back where you started. This is because the universe is curved (or something). I dont really understand it myself. It takes years of study and big brains to know. Sorry.
2006-08-20 10:21:02 · answer #6 · answered by Lucy C 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Space is not finite, it is infinite, it goes everywhere and it goes nowhere. It is physically impossible to go to the exact dead center of the universe, yet you ARE at the exact dead center of the universe. The universe is expanding at a phenomenal rate. Unfortunately, the mind of man and his ability to "understand" it is not. Your complex question raises more complex questions that in turn make us think. That in some small way is the beginning of of "knowing". For that, I thank you.
2006-08-20 10:44:52 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
As everyone keeps quoting from theories of other people, let's have an original answer. "Space" is the gap between objects.How many objects there are is another question. Ask yourself the easiest question , would there be any objects if there was no space to put them in?
My theory is that all scientists are out to disprove each other with complicated crap. The obvious stares us in the face at all times but we fail to see it.
2006-08-23 17:42:10 · answer #8 · answered by jason b 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Space is "finite but boundless" in the words of Stephen Hawking. In other words, it is not eternal, but you could never go to the edge as space-time is curved, and you would end up back where you started.
Good question though - one I've puzzled often myself!
2006-08-20 10:18:45 · answer #9 · answered by Hello Dave 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
From what I have read, the universe itself is expanding conceptually. But at the same time, there is no such nothing as "border" or a "boundary" on the edges of a universe.
Bottomline is that universe is truly infinite from practical point of view and you will never reach this "boundary"
2006-08-20 10:11:42 · answer #10 · answered by Raj Sola 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋