2006-12-09 12:11:23 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
The universe does NOT have a center. The main reason lots of people think that it must have one is because they think of the Big Bang as an explosion. It wasn't! An explosion happens inside something else, and there's no evidence whatsoever that our universe is inside anything.
Start with an infinite absolute void--no matter, no energy, no space, no time, absolutely nothing. Then, somehow, the Big Bang event occurs. Only then did space come into existence. We can then say that the Big Bang happened everywhere at once. To claim otherwise we'd have to assume that there was some other "where" before the Big Bang.
A geometric form without a center isn't hard to imagine. Think of the SURFACE of a perfect sphere. Where's its center? Of course, there isn't any.
The fancy words for these things that are so hard to comprehend are 'homogeneous' and 'isotropic.' The first word describes something that is everywhere the same. The latter word means that no matter where you are within that something it looks the same in all directions.
2006-12-09 12:38:57 · answer #1 · answered by Chug-a-Lug 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Good question.
It depends on how you define center. If the universe is closed (bounded) then a geometric center theoretically exists. However, since gravity impacts on measurement of time and space, it may be more correct to speak of a center of gravity of the universe. I haven;t done the math, but I suspect that would coincide with the origin of the big bang, which is not only a "where" but a "when".
If the universe is unbounded, it still may have a center mathematically speaking, just like the real number line in analysis has a center at zero even though the line has no "ends". I likewise expect that the center of an unbounded universe is the origin of the big bang.
Maybe a real cosmologist will chime in.
2006-12-09 12:18:38 · answer #2 · answered by Jerry P 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
OK, people keep saying the universe is a sphere and has no center or whatever. There's nothing wrong with saying that, that is if the universe indeed was spherical. The fact is we don't know if the universe has a spherical shape or not, all we know (or claim based on the Big Bamg) is that it has no spacial boundary.
Also some people are incorrectly saying that a sphere has no center, true the surface of a sphere has no center, but a sphere as a whole has a center right in the middle of it, how else would you get the radius of it if it had no center?
2006-12-09 13:01:01 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
There really isn't a center. In fact, no matter where you are in the universe, you appear to be at the center of it.
This occurs because space is expanding and each cluster of galaxies is moving away from all the others (think of how raisins in bread would all move away from each other as the bread is rising).
At an early point in the big bang, the universe expanded so fast that light wasn't able to keep up with it, so from no point in the universe can you see to the edge, so everywhere seems like the center.
2006-12-09 12:17:36 · answer #4 · answered by grotereber 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is no centre of the universe! According to the standard theories of cosmology, the universe started with a "Big Bang" about 14 billion years ago and has been expanding ever since. Yet there is no centre to the expansion. It is the same everywhere. The Big Bang should not be visualised as an ordinary explosion. The universe is not expanding out from a centre into space. The whole universe itself is expanding and it is doing so equally at all places, as far as we can tell.
2006-12-09 12:25:02 · answer #5 · answered by sushant27016 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We're not sure if it does have a center. The doppler red/blue spectrum shift phenomenon supports the concept of an expanding universe (therefore not infinate, as indicated by others) and so also seems to support the Big Bang Theory. But this is only support and not abject proof that it's even expanding.
If the Big Bang Theory is correct, the universe is expanding and we don't know where the 0,0,0 Coordinates of the Universe are. We don't even know there are any, but so far it's our guess that there is one.
2006-12-09 12:23:35 · answer #6 · answered by socialdeevolution 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
As far as we know, the universe is infinite. That means it has no center and no edge. Once all matter condenses into one spot, though, I guess you could call that point the 'center.'
2006-12-09 12:20:47 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is no center of the universe. If there was, I guess it would be me...lol.
2006-12-09 12:15:11 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It seems odd, but there is no center.
2006-12-09 12:15:00 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Seeing as it's impossible to prove, let's just say that it's in my living room.
2006-12-09 12:28:16 · answer #10 · answered by Dr Know It All 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋