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Nope. Our visible universe is bounded by the expansion of space that happens at the speed of light. That means we can only see a subset of the universe at any t
by heavenlyblue 8y ago
Nope. Our visible universe is bounded by the expansion of space that happens at the speed of light. That means we can only see a subset of the universe at any time.
- gpderetta 8y agoNot only that, due to expansion, the subset is getting smaller by the second!
- ikeboy 8y agoBut if you travel at less than the speed of light you'd never pass that anyway
- isaiahg 8y agoBecause of expansion we'll likely never be able to travel to any of the galaxies in the universe except our local neighborhood. But it's still worth studying those galaxies from a distance to learn more about our universe.
- PopeDotNinja 8y agoIf you traveled at the speed of light, you'd still never make it to the edge of the universe. The edge of the observable universe is moving away from us faster than the speed of light. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observable_universe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observable_universe
- charlesism 8y agoSo a beam of light with a head start, half-way across the universe from you, could "wrap around" and eventually reach you. But the beam of light couldn't "wrap around" and reach itself, because the universe constantly moves the goal post before light beam gets the chance?
- heavenlyblue 8y agoYes. The fact is that does it not prove or disprove the fact that our universe is wrapped around - it may be either way. The parent's point is invalid because we wouldn't be able to see the wrapped around light even if it existed.
- karmakaze 8y agoExpansion is not limited to the speed of light. Two points in space may be 'moving apart' faster than the speed of light because they're not moving, space is being created in-between. The more space there is in between, the faster the rate of expansion between the points.
- heavenlyblue 8y agoI am not saying expansion of the universe is limited to the speed of light. I am saying the boundary of the observable universe is defined at the points where the expansion of space reaches the speed of light.