How is it possible to measure the width of the universe?

Question

How does anyone know where it ends?

Answer 1

You've hit on one of the most complex questions imaginable. As it is, no one really knows how big the Universe is, or if it even has an end that we can imagine.

The mathematical theory unlying the main ideas about this are so complexthat I can't grasp them, let alone explain them, but I can give a few details about the general principles.

1) the Universe has No End(Open). If you could travel in space as fast as you want for as long as you want, you could travel forever and never find an "end". space is just the empty place between the objects in the Universe, and theoretically doesn't need to have a boundary. (It wouldn't be like a wall you couldn't get past, in any case...)

2) The Universe if Finite (Closed). All the stars and galaxies exist on a sort of 4 dimensional balloon. The Universe expands the same way a baloon would when you blow it up... Because it is like a sphere, if you took off in any direction and travelled fast and far enough, you'd eventually come back to where you started.

No one knows if either of these ideas is correct. There are other ideas that are more exotic, but I have neither the space or the understanding to explain them...

Answer 2

It is not possible for us now to measure the width of the universe. There are a few things we can do though. One is through theory. The time of the big bang can be deduced from the speed the universe is expanding at. This tells us how old the universe is, and then using that time a size can be computed.

Also, scientists can look for objects the most distant. If they find an object they compute to a distance away, the universe must be at least that size.

As for ending, the current thought is that the universe doesn't end, it is curved in higher dimensions. The "end of the universe" is analogous to "the end of the earth": if you were able to go that far (which you can't: speed of light) then you would come back to your starting point.

Answer 3

There are some general calculations that determine the age of the universe based on things like the cosmic microwave background, which is the remnant energy of the Big Bang. Then, we determine the distance to stars and galaxies that are sufficiently far away to account for the age of the universe plus the expansion that's occurred, we've come pretty close to finding the radius of the universe. Then we multiply by two

Answer 4

Sorry, no I don't think it's possible and probably never will be, unless we could prove that the universe expands to a certain radius before it implodes on itself. That's not going to happen any time soon, because we won't have the ability to measure out to the end or observe and estimate the amount of matter there is, since there is so much matter out there that we cannot detect.

Answer 5

the universe is always expanding so it's not really possible to measure the width of the universe, there all just guesses and none knows where it ends

Answer 6

COSMOLOGY

Cosmology : a web site directory of selected sites

http://www.galacticsurf.net/cosmolGB.htm

http://superstringtheory.com/cosmo/

http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_uni.html

http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/gr/public/cos_home.html

http://www.sec.noaa.gov/primer/primer.html

Cosmology Theory Of The Universe

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It's the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead." ~ Albert Einstein (1930)

http://dhost.info/cosmology/


Good luck.

Kevin, Liverpool, England

Answer 7

the universe doesnt end. it extends on forever even though there might be nothing in all that space

Answer 8

Nobody knows, because it doesn't end - in the sense that there is no "outside" the universe.

Answer 9

Get a spaceship and a really,really,long tape measure

Answer 10

Hi. Determine the distance to the edge to your best ability and multiply by two.