Astronomers say that the universe is expanding, but what is it exactly expanding into?

Answer 1

The expansion of space is conceptually different from other kinds of expansions and explosions that are seen in nature. Our understanding of the "fabric of the universe" (spacetime) requires that what we see normally as "space", "time", and "distance" are not absolutes, but are determined by a metric that can change. In the metric expansion of space, rather than objects in a fixed "space" moving apart into "emptiness", it is the space that contains the objects which is itself changing. It is as if without objects themselves moving, space is somehow "growing" in between them.

Answer 2

It is expanding into "infinite" space. Scientists have found a curve of light at the end of the seemingly endless universe. It is not only expanding, it is expanding faster and faster causing everything to separate away from another but during that rapid movement, some galaxies will collide ( for example, in a few million years, we will collide with our closest galaxy in the Virgo Cluster, the Andromeda Galaxy)
I'm sorry if this isn't the exact answer you were looking for, but I hope you have some questions answered. You can look up on the internet or read books about cosmology. Yours truly,
Jenna Lee, Someone who loves learning about everything.

Answer 3

Space isn't expanding into anything. Space itself is expanding. For example, the space between two galaxies is getting larger and larger, but the things that are bound by gravity such as people on earth, or the sun in the Milky Way Galaxy do not experience any expansion of space.

Gravity holds us together in place. And do not think of the universe as having edges and those edges moving away and creating magical new space. Think of the universe like an infinite sized graph paper. If you put that graph paper in a xerox machine you can enlarge it so the boxes/ the space between two lines becomes larger.

You can image two galaxies on two different lines, and as the space between things that are not held by gravity grow, then the space between them grows.

Answer 4

The universe isn't actually expanding at all. The idea that it does comes from the original misinterpretation of galactic redshifts as being a doppler effect when they are actually a scattering effect. The galaxies are not generally receding from each other. Their light simply loses energy through it's interaction with the molecular hydrogen that fills intergalactic space (see source).

If space expanded, as well as stretching out the energy of light radially causing distant galaxies to appear redshifted, it would stretch it out transversely causing a reduction in their surface brightnesses. This is not what we observe:
http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/science-universe-not-expanding-01940.html

Expanding space would also stretch out the light curves of quasars (their oscillation in luminosity). No sign of this either:
http://phys.org/news190027752.html

This documentary may enlighten you:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFFl9S39CTM

There never was a Big Bang.

Answer 5

The Universe is everything. There is nothing outside the Universe. It is not that the Universe is displacing anything. The distance between things is growing larger. At any given time when traveling at the speed of light it takes longer to go between portions of the universe than it did in the past.

Answer 6

It's expanding into the open space around it.

Answer 7

we dont, know we cant go that far to find out....... and also the dopler shift gives us red shift, not blue shift, blue shift would mean they are coming closer not further away. And also by saying the universe is expanding into something, ur saying that there are boundries to universe which we dont know either.

Answer 8

Its not expanding into anything. Its just moving apart from eachother. The doppler shift tells us that because the because the stars are giving us blue sgnals, they are only moving away from eachother.

Answer 9

either an open universe which will inevitably expand to infinite multi dimensional universes or a closed universe in which everything will revert back to its original constituent matter and die out or swallow itself

Answer 10

You might find this link helpful:

http://dingo.care-mail.com/cards/flash/5409/galaxy.swf

Click or copy and paste into browser