If the universe is expanding away from us in all directions, does that mean we're at the center?

Question

If not, are we close to the center? Is there a center?

Answer 1

The Universe has no edge, and no center, and I will give you an illustration of that, which is easy to understand, in just a moment.

Every galaxy in the universe is moving away from every other galaxy. Stated differently, the distance of any one galaxy to every other galaxy is constantly increasing.

There is an exception to this: many galaxies are grouped together in clusters, and within such clusters galaxies may actually be gravitationally attracted towards each other. Our "local group" of galaxies is an excellent example. Spectroscopic observations of the Andromeda galaxy, our nearest neighbor, show that it is "blueshifted," which means that the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy are actually moving towards each other. However, if we treat each cluster as a system, with a gravitational center, then that center of gravity is moving away from all the other galaxies in the universe.

Here's an experiment you can conduct. Blow up a balloon part of the way, and have a friend mark dots with a magic marker all over the surface of the balloon (use different colors if you like). After the dots have been placed, blow it up again, and examine the positions of the dots. After doing this for a while, you will see that each dot is moving away from every other dot.

Seen from the perspective of a sentient being in any one galaxy, it will appear as if it is in the center, and all the galaxies are moving away from it. It is an illusion of perspective.

The analogy is not perfect, because the surface of the balloon is only two dimensional, and the structure of "spacetime" is four-dimensional. But the general concept is there. The surface of the balloon has no edge, i.e., you can walk around and around the surface of the balloon forever, and you will never encounter an edge. Thus, not having an edge, it can't have a center, because a center must be measured with respect to an edge.

It's rather mind-bending, I realize, but I hope this helps.

Answer 2

Not necessarily. Just look at our own system. The sun is not even the center, and expansion in all directions not necessarily means at the same rate. For example Los Angeles is expanding in all directions more to the west than towards any other direction and LA is not the center.

Answer 3

There nevertheless isn't any center of the universe and it continues to be a variety, not an explosion. there is not any outdoors, the two. this question comes up a minimum of one million/2 a dozen circumstances an afternoon. Please examine a solid e book on the region. The universe isn't around. in case you may desire to verify it in a extra helpful dimensional area, it might look extra like a furry/spiky orange by using interior reach version of mass density and for this reason curvature. all of us understand a number of those issues from observations. all of us understand each and every thing from observations. it can't be any incorrect way because of the fact the concept that "organic questioning leads to perception" is a fantasy of philosophy that had to be abandoned an prolonged time in the past.

Answer 4

There are 2 main definitions of "universe"

The first: Is the known universe meaning the universe that we are able to detect via all methods such as x rays, gamma rays, radio waves, visible light etc. I like to call this the "Big Bang Universe." The estimated diameter of this universe is somewhere around 93 billion light years. The center of this universe definition was and is the center of the big bang mass at detonation. We are not currently in that location as the matter that formed the earth as we know it today was flung from big bang at detonation.

The second definition: This one I like better: The entire universe is the totality of everything including the big bang before, during and after, all space, time, space-time, matter, objects, non-objects, anti-matter, anti-gravity, dark matter, parallel universes, other matter, things we dont yet know of, light, energy, black holes, quasars, quarks, pulsars, radiation of all types, dark universes and all of the complete totality of the entire cosmos. This universe is not limited by time, or space and continues in all directions for infinity in both time, distance and space. This concept may be hard to grasp, but the center of this universe my friend, is at the center of the origin of your thought process. And the physical location of your thought process is most likely very near the center of your cerebral cortex. So, the location of the center of the universe is in your skull somewhere.

Answer 5

Yes there is a center, but we're not at it. The reason that all objects are moving away from us is that things farther from the center move away from it faster that those closer to the center. If you imagine it, you will see that an object closer to the center than us will, although it moves in about the same direction, gradually get a bigger distance from us because it is moving slower.

Answer 6

Anyone can imagine themseff being at the center,. Think of being on the surface of a round balloon. No matter where you are, everything around you is expanding away.

Answer 7

No, we're not at the center of the universe. It has no physical center. Our universe is what's called 'isotropic,' meaning that no matter where you are in it that point will seem to be the center.

Answer 8

You can only 'see' the center of the universe in the 4th dimension. We are not able to see in the 4th dimension, but we can see the 'shadow' of something from the 4th dimension. (google hypercube for an example). The shadow of the center of the universe as seen in the 3rd dimension shows us that the center of the universe IS the universe.

Answer 9

Absolutely yes! *Every* point in the universe is at its exact center. All 4(pi) steradians of direction point exactly at the Big Bang and that is the same distance away in every direction. This is the geometry inside a black hole's event horizon. All paths lead to the singularity. There is no path out.

Answer 10

The universe is a VERY strange place, and a VERY strange shape. So far as we can tell, the universe is expanding away from everywhere in all directions!