eli5: How can stuff be further from the center of the universe than physics allows?

625 viewsOtherPlanetary Science

Ok so the diameter of the observable universe is 93 billion light years. That means the distance from the center where the big bang occured to the outer edges of our (observable) universe is roughly 46,5 billion lightyears.

The fastest speed in the universe is the speed of light and the universe is 13,7 billion years old.

Doesn’t that mean that the farthest anything can be from the centre of the universe is 13,7 billion lightyears?

In: Planetary Science

10 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

There is no center of the universe, all point in it was at the same location during the big bang.

So earth, the Andromeda galaxy and the farthest away galaxy we can observer all are equally the center of the universe. So you need to consider all point the center or no point the center, what you choose a question of what you consider a center to bee.

The big bang is not a explosion on space and stuff that move away in space. It is a rapid expansion of space. The name any typical visualisation in media is misleading. It is once again the expansion of space itself not moving of object in space.

What is at the edge of the observable universe have not traveled 46.5 billion lightyear from us. It is space in-between that have grown, the galaxis have not moved. The distance of two object will increase and neither is moving, that is the case of all object in the universe, it is only when other forcers are stronger like gravity for out galaxy or electromagnetic force for a single rock that distance between object do not get further apart.

There is of course motion of galaxies too, but its effect is minimal compared to the expansion. It is limited by the speed of light and c an be in the opposite direction of the expansion.

Because expansion of the universe it nos motion in the universe the distance between two object can grow faster then light can travel. With the expansion rate we see now is is only over distance of billion of light years that happen. The expansion on the scale of out solar system is in the order of 1 meter per year between the earth and the sun. That is if I correctly remember a calculation I have done.

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