4 ms·
On the scale of the universe you aren’t just seeing far away objects but seeing the past. For illustrative purposes the edge of the Universe is the edge of time
by throwawaycities 5y ago
On the scale of the universe you aren’t just seeing far away objects but seeing the past. For illustrative purposes the edge of the Universe is the edge of time, where time has any meaning to us, and beyond that is inflation where light didn’t travel freely.
If somehow the Universe were as you propose and wrapping around itself so we were able to stare at the back of our heads, we would only see objects from the past to a point, and then the objects would begin to appear closer in time again until the furthest point where we would once again be looking at the present.
- Aerroon 5y agoThe universe was opaque up to about 380,000 years after the Big Bang. If the universe loops in on itself and is large enough then wouldn't we be blocked by that? And the further you go back from there the higher the density would be.
- throwawaycities 5y agoMeaning we couldn’t look straight out and see the back of our own heads. Eventually we would run into a point of the universe before time had any meaning (the opaque plasma) and there would be no looking past that back into the present.