The trite answer is that both space and time were created at the big bang about 14 billion years ago, so there is nothing beyond the universe. However, much of the universe exists beyond the observable universe, which is maybe about 90 billion light years across.
What is beyond the edge of the observable universe?
The observable Universe is bounded by a ‘cosmic horizon’, much like the horizon at sea. Just as we know there’s more ocean over the horizon, we know there are more galaxies (possibly an infinite number) beyond the cosmic horizon.
What is at the edge of the universe?
As far as we can tell, there is no edge to the universe. Space spreads out infinitely in all directions. Furthermore, galaxies fill all of the space through-out the entire infinite universe. This conclusion is reached by logically combining two observations.
What is the farthest observable universe?
The galaxy candidate HD1 is the farthest object in the universe (Image credit: Harikane et al.) A possible galaxy that exists some 13.5 billion light-years from Earth has broken the record for farthest astronomical object ever seen.
What would be beyond the observable universe? – Related Questions
Does space ever end?
No, they don’t believe there’s an end to space. However, we can only see a certain volume of all that’s out there. Since the universe is 13.8 billion years old, light from a galaxy more than 13.8 billion light-years away hasn’t had time to reach us yet, so we have no way of knowing such a galaxy exists.
What is the cosmic dark age?
In Big Bang cosmology, shortly after the blazingly bright Big Bang itself, there came a time when the universe was utterly dark. This period, before the first stars were born, and is thought to have lasted several hundred million years in our 13.8-billion-year-old universe. Astronomers call it the Cosmic Dark Ages.
Why can we see 46 billion light-years?
That’s because over time, space has been expanding, so the distant objects that gave off that light 13.8 billion years ago have since moved even farther away from us. Today, those distant objects are a bit more than 46 billion light years away.
How far away is 1 light year?
For most space objects, we use light-years to describe their distance. A light-year is the distance light travels in one Earth year. One light-year is about 6 trillion miles (9 trillion km).
What is the farthest observable object from Earth?
The most distant object ever seen from Earth may have just been discovered. HD1 is an object estimated to lie around 13.3 billion light years away from our planet, placing it in an era when many chemical elements were yet to form.
How long would it take to go 13 billion light-years?
This galaxy is thought to be about 13.2 billion light years away, which means it would date to about 500 million years after the Big Bang.
Is the universe infinite?
The observable universe is finite in that it hasn’t existed forever. It extends 46 billion light years in every direction from us.
What is the farthest image in space?
SMACS 0723
Webb has the capacity to look 13.6 billion light years distant—which will be the farthest we’ve ever seen into space. This image of the galactic cluster known as SMACS 0723 contains thousands of galaxies, some of which are as far away as 13.1 billion light years.
How big was the universe at 1 second old?
The Universe was once just the radius of the Earth-to-the-Sun, which happened when the Universe was about a trillionth (10–12) of a second old. The expansion rate of the Universe back then was 1029 times what it is today.
How will the universe end?
In the unimaginably far future, cold stellar remnants known as black dwarfs will begin to explode in a spectacular series of supernovae, providing the final fireworks of all time. That’s the conclusion of a new study, which posits that the universe will experience one last hurrah before everything goes dark forever.
What was the first thing to exist?
The earliest life forms we know of were microscopic organisms (microbes) that left signals of their presence in rocks about 3.7 billion years old. The signals consisted of a type of carbon molecule that is produced by living things.
What happened before the universe?
The Universe has not existed forever. It was born. Around 13.82 billion years ago, matter, energy, space – and time – erupted into being in a fireball called the Big Bang. It expanded and, from the cooling debris, there congealed galaxies – islands of stars of which our Milky Way is one among about two trillion.
Can something be created from nothing?
Something can be created from nothing
But such a perfect vacuum may not exist. One of the foundations of quantum theory is the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. It begins to be of profound importance to our understanding of nature at the atomic scale and below.
When did time begin?
According to the standard big bang model of cosmology, time began together with the universe in a singularity approximately 14 billion years ago.
What created the universe?
Our universe began with an explosion of space itself – the Big Bang. Starting from extremely high density and temperature, space expanded, the universe cooled, and the simplest elements formed. Gravity gradually drew matter together to form the first stars and the first galaxies.
Who created God?
We ask, “If all things have a creator, then who created God?” Actually, only created things have a creator, so it’s improper to lump God with his creation. God has revealed himself to us in the Bible as having always existed. Atheists counter that there is no reason to assume the universe was created.
How did space come from nothing?
Virtually all astronomers now believe that the universe sprang forth in what is known as the “Big Bang” explosion, from a state of extraordinary compression and phenomenally high temperature in which forces such as gravity and electromagnetism were unified in a single, all-encompassing force.
