What’s outside/beyond our observable universe?

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Is it like that scene from Spongebob where Squidward was alone in an empty white void?

In: Physics

4 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

One of the fundamental assumption of modern astronomy is that there’s nothing special about our place in the universe. By this reasoning, what’s outside the observable universe should look the same as what’s inside. The same distribution of planets, stars, galaxies etc.

The boundary of the observable universe isn’t any kind of wall. It’s just the point where the expansion of the universe is fast enough that light from there will.never reach us. There could be a planet orbiting a star out there at that distance with some creature on it that is wondering the same thing about what life is like here, at the edge of *their* observable universe.

Anonymous 0 Comments

No one knows. There’s no way *to* know, at least, not until faster than light travel is invented.

Anonymous 0 Comments

We can assume that there’s nothing special about our region of the universe. But we’ll never know what’s outside the observable universe or if there is anything at all. And also, we don’t need to know. Whatever’s outside can’t affect us in anyway and we can’t interact with what’s outside at all. (even gravitational force from outside the observable universe doesn’t reach us). We can have a perfect explanation about the observable universe without knowing anything about what’s outside. So it doesn’t matter at all.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Likely more universe.

We observe things going ‘back’ in time the further we look because light takes time to travel.

If you stood one one side of a sports field and a friend clanged a shovel on the goals on the other, you’d see them move and then hear the sound a fraction after the movement. Get far enough away and your friend would move, then you’d see it after a delay, then you’d hear the sound a while after that.

For the edge of the observable universe, the things have moved, but because we’re so far away, we’re only just starting to see their initial movement so to speak.

Beyond the edge of the observable universe, the universe has been doing its thing since the beginning, but we’re only just starting to see it. So thus beyond the ‘edge’ of the universe is likely just more universe.