2007-02-12 22:18:58 · 9 answers · asked by pcasthana2003 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Very little is known about the size of the universe. It may be trillions of light years across, or even infinite in size. A 2003 paper[17] claims to establish a lower bound of 24 gigaparsecs (78 billion light years) on the size of the universe, but there is no reason to believe that this bound is anywhere near tight.
The observable (or visible) universe, consisting of all locations that could have affected us since the Big Bang given the finite speed of light, is certainly finite. The comoving distance to the edge of the visible universe is about 46.5 billion light years in all directions from the earth; thus the visible universe may be thought of as a perfect sphere with the earth at its center and a diameter of about 93 billion light years. Note that many sources have reported a wide variety of incorrect figures for the size of the visible universe, ranging from 13.7 to 180 billion light years. See Observable universe for a list of incorrect figures published in the popular press with explanations of each
2007-02-12 22:32:32 · answer #1 · answered by cubblycloud 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Universe itself, or the maximum amount of space that we will eventually be able to see given an infinite amount of time, may well be infinite. In quoting a size of the Universe we infer how far we can see in one direction (15 billion light years), and how far we can see in the other direction (15 billion light years) and add the two to get a size (30 billion light years). An age of 15 billion light years in each direction therefore leads us to infer that we are at the centre of a sphere with radius 15 billion light-years, and hence that the Universe is 30 billion light-years "across". The trick, however, is that because the Universe is homogeneous and isotropic, every observer must measure a size of the Universe that is 30 billion light years... even ones that are at the "edge" of our observable Universe! This means that either the Universe is sufficiently curved that space doubles back on itself (like on the surface of a sphere), or that the actual Universe is much larger than the observable one. We currently think that the latter possibility is the case.
2007-02-12 22:39:58 · answer #2 · answered by Sporadic 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The universe cant be measured. No one knows the size or will ever know for the next billion years. The most that can be measured of it is the distance of our sight. Everything within this circle is the universe we know of. Anything out of it is unknown.
Since no one has ever mapped the whole universe or traveled through it, its possible that it could double back on it self or it could just keep going forever. Remembering that we once thought Earth was flat, because we didn't have a clear understanding of it. The same principle applies here since no-one knows completely everything about it. Anythings possible.
2007-02-12 22:56:47 · answer #3 · answered by pik 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is not a direct, simple answer to your question
because there is not a way to measure from here out to
nothing. However, there are some fairly good estimates of the size of the universe from here out to the most distant visable objects and those estimates are at distances of 46.5 Billion Light Years in all directions. That is huge by any standard of measure that I can comprehend, and it is expanding as we speak.
I hope that this gives you the information you seek. If not, I noticed Wiki references given by other people answering your question and those references seemed on target to me. May I also refer you to books by Ian Ridpath which are published by DK Publishing, NY, NY.
One in particular, ASTRONOMY, has some excellent illustrations of the universe in full color which you may want to check out to more fully understand the universe.
2007-02-12 22:52:33 · answer #4 · answered by zahbudar 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
By current approximation the universe is at least 156 billion light-years wide. But it is expanding.
2007-02-12 22:24:25 · answer #5 · answered by FujitaSenpai 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Outward 15 BILLION light years, estimated distance. One light year, if I'm not mistaken, is 1 trillion miles. So that's 15 billion trillion miles in diameter outward.
15,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles
I think I got the zeros right
2007-02-13 02:12:10 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
incomprehensively massive
2007-02-13 15:50:02 · answer #7 · answered by blinkky winkky 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Big. Very big. Very, very big.
2007-02-12 22:21:32 · answer #8 · answered by =42 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
limitless...
2007-02-12 23:19:36 · answer #9 · answered by hyaki ikari 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋