How come there is space? Does space ever end?

Question

I was looking out of the window last night at the stars and was thinking how come there is space? I mean surely space can't have always existed can it, surely there was a start?

Surely space cannot just keep going on forever in any direction, but then again how is it possible to end, what would be one mile the other side of the end of space?
If space does just keep going on forever well there must be infinite planets like Earth where there is intelligent life on it. We can't be the only one in this whole infinite space.
10 points to the person who gives the correct answer. lol.

Answer 1

Hello,

(ANS) YES! the most incredible and shocking thing is that space is totally and utterly infinite, it has no measurable boundaries, it has no limits what so ever. The primal void of outer space is a complete unknown to humans, its a mystery beyond our understanding!!

Space and our universe are so vast its really well beyond human beings ability to grasp or really imagine anything so big , so endless.

**The cosmos including our own local system i.e. our own universe is nothing special in the sense that if you took a space craft that could fly across space very fast say at light speed or faster. What you would see is just another spiral nebula with many curved arms and a dense center filled with billions of stars or stars being created. And if you stood back further you would see what astronomers & cosmologists call the local group, that our universe or system is surrounded by millions of other spiral galaxies just like ours. Except that distances & scales we are talking of here are vast and beyond comprehension for humans.

**To give you an idea of scale, humans have only traveled to the nearest object in space i.e. the moon and the moon is only something like a quarter of a million miles away from us in space. Humans haven't even been able to travel across space for x1 light year & return safely yet. And the distances in space are so big that humans will never travel across them given our present level of technology.

**YES! its my belief that earth is not unique as a planet, it may be rarer than we first thought but if you look at this way. Astronomers have calculated that the universe we live in contains a trillion stars and if only 1% of those stars contained planets at the right distance from their local star for life. Then thats still x1 million potential stars with planets where life might possible get started. Are we alone I doubt it personally.

**Sadly even if we are not alone in the cosmos we will never make contact with another intelligent species because the distances of space are so mind bogglingly vast, the odds are totally against us.

Kind Regards Ivan

Answer 2

Space is the distance between objects. Before the big bang, where there were no objects, space did not exist. There is no 'space' that the universe expands into - it creates the space as it expands.

You can see this by thinking about how we measure space - it's the distance from the Earth to the Moon, or the Earth to the Sun, or our Solar System to the next one, etc. But if these objects didn't exist, how could you measure space? In a totally empty universe, the concept of space has no meaning. It's like trying to find the beginning or end of a sphere. Or what's north of the North Pole? The question breaks down. The same with space before there were objects to measure any space with.

And also like the surface of a sphere, the universe is finite, but unbounded. A sphere is only so big, but has no beginning or end point. But while a sphere is two-dimensional, the universe is at least three (and probably more, according to string theory). So while the surface of the sphere is unbounded but finite, a three-dimensional universe is also unbounded, but finite. As it expands, it creates more space, but there is nothing 'outside' of it. Again, the question has no meaning, like asking what's outside of 'red', for example.

Answer 3

well, 'space' surely does have an end and a beginning, but we don't know where. there is no one mile on the other side of space. you and most of us think in terms of 3 dimension but there is a fourth dimension- time. if we could travel in that dimension we can know where exactly space begins and ends.
And about other intelligent beings in the universe- there is no life other than that on earth in this milky way galaxy-our scientists made sure of it- but maybe there is life on the other galaxies, but since we can't travel that far nor can any of our telescopes- we don't know.
You also asked about beginning of space and the end of it. maybe you know the Big bang theory. anyway, it states that the entire universe was formed billions or maybe zillions of years ago by a big bang- for an infinitely small and infinitely dense matter and got scattered away in the universe. this is still expanding and scientists say one day it will start contracting again to become the same infinitely small and dense matter which will again blast and so on.
Hope your doubt is cleared but what you asked is deep into a subject about which hours worth lecture can be given.

Answer 4

Have you ever seen a collection of nesting boxes? That is; a series of boxes where one little box sat in the center of a whole group of boxes, each one just a little bit bigger than the former one? I think maybe you have. If not, maybe it was nesting bowls, where the smallest bowl sat in the center of a whole stack of bigger and bigger bowls.

Well, if you will consider that you are on the Earth which is the smallest bowl in this discussion. The Earth is orbiting around the Sun along with about 8 other planets and that is the next larger bowl.

Our Sun is only one of 200 Billion other Stars that make up the Milky Way Galaxy which is roughly 1500 Light Years wide and 1 1/2 Light years thick, which makes up the next larger bowl which is going to have to be a really big bowl.

The next larger bowl makes up all of the pretty much empty space that lies around the Milky Way Galaxy.

And now you need to visualize placing thousands and thousands of other sets of bowls around the first set of bowls we talked about above. These sets of bowls represent all of the other galaxies out in space beyond out own Galaxy.

Now space is big enough to hold all of those things. It is so big that we cannot see out into it past objects that are 13 Billion Light Years from the Earth with our best optical equipment. Our equipment just can's SEE any farther than that and the problem is a limitation of our equipment, not that we have reached or seen the end of space...We just can't see any farther than that.

So how can you talk about stuff that you can't see??? Well, in actual fact, yoiu can't. But you can draw some conclusions based upon what you have seen, and assume that those conclusions must be correct.

Conclusion 1.) Space is very, very, very, very big. It is so big that we call it infinite. No one has ever advanced any workable theory with proofs that suggests the size of space, or its overall shape. That would be about like a bacteria or germ contemplating the Milky Way Galaxy and trying to fix its size and extent...not an easy job for an entity that small. However, we know that the Milky Way Galaxy is shaped like a disk and is 1500 Light Years in diameter, 1 1/2 Light Years Thick. One Light Year is a distance of roughly six trillion miles. We also know that the Milky Way Galaxy contains more than 200 Billion Stars (each one just about like our Sun, some are bigger, some are smaller).

Conclusion 2.) Beyond the Milky Way Galaxy there are thousands and thousands of other galaxies and each one of those galaxies contains billions more stars.

Conclusion 3.) The nearest star to our Sun is 4.5 Light Years away.

Conclusion 4.) The most distant objects in space that we can see with our best optical equipment squeezed down as tight as it will go (or opened up as wide as it can go) is 13 Billion light years away from Earth in all directions. That is a phenominal distance that will be far beyond the capability of most people to comprehend because they hav no frame of reference to compare it to here on Earth.

Conclusion 5.) Space continues far, far beyond the distance limits of our optical machinery. No one knows how far, so we call it infinite, Those who wish to argue may gather in the hall outside and shout at each other for as long as they wish.

Answer 5

You should probably read 'a brief history of time' by stephen hawking, he talks at length about space and current theories surrounding its size. i believe the general jist is that the universe expands into an infinate space that surrounds it, so pre big bang there were no stars/planets and the universe was probably tiny (i'm talking atom sized). There is a theory which states that the universe stopped expanding long ago and is now in fact contracting, but don't worry you can't see or feel it and it will take may billions of years for it 'shrink' back.
Obviously nobody can know what this space surrounding the universe is like, but experts believe that logically it should be fluid in nature. I loved stephen hawkings book, and i love all the theories about space and the universe.
Are we alone? considering that the exisence of the very first microscopic life-forms on earth appeared after hitching a ride on meteors and the like that struck the earth billions of years ago, it stands to reason that those same micro-organisms could have landed on other planets in this vast universe and evolved to survive in their own environment. i believe it shows ignorance of humans who believe that we are alone!

Answer 6

A good question. My hunch, space never ends there are other galaxys out in space,other planets like earth maybe an advanced civilization living very far from our solar system no one can be sure of it. this is one big mystery, the hardest to explain. our solar system is a little part of the big world out of our milky way.

Answer 7

if there wasn't space we wouldn't exist
I can't say the universe doesn't go on forever
it could be like pi: 3.14.......
maybe a higher power created the universe

there is probably intelligent life on other planets
since there's like millions of galaxies
but until we can find a way somhow warp every molecule in our body or the machines at the speed of light I'm not sure how we'll meet them
hope that helps

Answer 8

The human brain is still too immature to even comprehend your questions. I mean, how frustrating is it that we can't even imagine infinity, let alone imagine what is beyond the universe.
Though I am not a religious person, I have a gut feeling that we will only know the answers after we've 'popped our clogs' and entered the spirit world, if there is one?

Answer 9

Space is where there is nothing and yes it does end.

Example: You will have space (nothing there) around your computer, but no space exactly where your computer is. Take away your computer then you have just created space and you don't even have to look out of your window.

Answer 10

Outer space, often simply called space, refers to the relatively empty regions of the universe outside the atmospheres of celestial bodies. Outer space is used to distinguish it from airspace (and terrestrial locations). Contrary to popular understanding, outer space is not completely empty (i.e. a perfect vacuum) but contains a low density of particles, predominantly hydrogen plasma, as well as electromagnetic radiation, dark matter and dark energy.