how wide is the universe?

Question

Scienntists say it is infinite,but have they ever been able to prove it?they dont have a telescope strong enough to see that far!!!

Answer 1

I think that in many ways eventually you'd come back,
To the very place you start so it must be big but not too big.

Thank you :)
There's a great many universes not just our own.

Answer 2

You are absolutely right. They can't prove it because they don't have a telescope that can see infinitely far! I believe that to do so would require an infinite telescope!

However, some scientists (and others!) have theories that assume or predict that the universe is infinite. They then use the images from their finite telescopes to support their theories, hoping that noone will ever be able to build a telescope large enough to see the edge of the universe, thereby proving that the universe is really finite and that their theory is wrong..

Answer 3

Scientifically speaking remember 9-1-1 is right. Astronomers recently guessed the age of the universe taking into account its age, speed of light and the expansion of the universe and it turns out the observable universe is 156 billion light years wide.

Answer 4

You can't reach the edge of the universe any more than an ant crawling on a beach ball can reach the end of the ball, yet both are finite.

That said, here is an interesting link that may give you a slight idea of how large (the universe) things can be and also how small. I think you'll enjoy the "trip" :D


Best regards,
Jim

Answer 5

The comoving distance from the Earth to the edge of the visible universe (also called cosmic light horizon) is about 46.5 billion light-years in any direction.[4] This defines the comoving radius of the observable universe. The observable universe is thus a sphere with a diameter of 92–94 billion light-years. Since space is roughly flat, this size corresponds to a comoving volume of about


or 3.56×1080 cubic meters.

The figures quoted above are distances now (in cosmological time), not distances at the time the light was emitted. For example, the cosmic microwave background radiation that we see right now was emitted about 13.7 billion years ago by matter that has, in the intervening time, condensed into galaxies. Those galaxies are now about 46 billion light-years from us, but at the time the light was emitted, that matter was only about 40 million light-years away from the matter that would eventually become the Earth. See comoving coordinates.


[edit] Misconceptions
Many secondary sources have reported a wide variety of incorrect figures for the size of the visible universe. Some of these are listed below.

13.7 billion light-years. The age of the universe is about 13.7 billion years. While it is commonly understood that nothing travels faster than light, it is a common misconception that the radius of the observable universe must therefore amount to only 13.7 billion light-years. This reasoning might make sense if we lived in the flat spacetime of special relativity, but in the real universe, spacetime is highly curved at cosmological scales by virtue of the Hubble expansion (though 3-space is roughly flat). Distances obtained as the speed of light times a cosmological time interval have no direct physical significance. [5]
15.8 billion light-years. This is obtained in the same way as the 13.7 billion light-year figure, but starting from an incorrect age of the universe which was reported in the popular press in mid-2006[6] [7] [8]. For an analysis of this claim and the paper that prompted it, see [9].
27 billion light-years. This is a diameter obtained from the (incorrect) radius of 13.7 billion light-years.
78 billion light-years. This is a lower bound (not an estimate) for the size of the whole universe (not the observable universe). If the universe is smaller than the observable universe, then light has had time to circumnavigate it since the big bang, producing multiple images of distant objects in the sky. Cornish et al looked for such an effect at scales of up to 24 gigaparsecs (78 billion light years) and failed to find it. 24 gigaparsecs is simply the upper limit of the search space of this study; it has no physical significance.
156 billion light-years. This figure was obtained by doubling 78 billion light-years on the assumption that it is a radius. Since 78 billion light-years is already a diameter (or rather a circumference), the doubled figure is meaningless even in its original context. This figure was very widely reported[10] [11] [12].
180 billion light-years. This estimate accompanied the age estimate of 15.8 billion years in some sources; it was obtained by incorrectly adding 15% to the incorrect figure of 156 billion light-years.

Answer 6

There have been several "estimates" made to "how wide is the universe?" .

The latest estimate is 156 billion light years:
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mystery_monday_040524.html

I have also seen the 96 billion number published in Astronomy magazine. As we get more and better "visual" data the number is sure to change again.

Answer 7

scientists do not say it is infinite. no scientist says its infinite. the big bang theory is the accepted model of the universe, therefore the universe has an end. the observable universe is about 46 billion light years in any direction from earth. so its about 92 billion lightyears in length. theres more outside of the observable universe but its light hasnt reached us yet.

Answer 8

Its obviously really really wide which fits many galaxy's and giant stars and a million times bigger then our sun. Although not proven its pretty obvious to assume but not estimate the width or come up with the exact values thats impossible. But as with everything, there is an ending to the universe. x

Answer 9

Well, we can say it is infinite, but as you say, there are no proofs. But, think what could be outside the universe?? I can't be white or black. It could be a vacumm, who knows. But one thing is sure, since we don't know what is outside the universe, we have no choice to say that the universe is infinite.

Answer 10

No one actually knows the answer to that question...
Though, through observations, we have been able to see as far out as an estimated 13.8 BILLION light years.
This doesn't mean, by any stretch of the imagination, that THAT is the finite end of the Universe...
It simply implies that THAT is as far as we can see...
Trippy, no?
Clear Skies!
Bobby

Answer 11

well I'm not sure how wide it is exactly, but i know it's very wide indeed and i also know there is a restaurant at the end of it