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

631 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

Space itself is expanding.

Think of an ant crawling on the surface of a balloon.

It starts off at a certain point on the surface and moves at a constant speed away from it. At the same time, the balloon is inflating. The distance between the ant and its starting point is increasing faster than it is moving, although it hasnt changed its speed.

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