If we know approximately how long it’s been since the Big Bang, and we know approximately how fast the universe expands/has been expanding, why can’t we get a good estimate on how big the non-observable universe is? Or more specifically, why can’t we figure out the radius on how far matter has spread out since the Big Bang?
In: Planetary Science
Non-observable is a nice way to say unknowable with our current understanding of physics.
The observable region of the universe is a sphere reaching out to a distance more or less equivalent to the distance light would be able to travel since the Big Bang and reach us.
Anything out of that sphere, if there actually is anything (which we just can’t know), may as well not exist as far as we’re concerned, as it’s unimaginably far away and incapable of exerting any kind of influence on us, and, if cosmic inflation is actually happening (if 3d space is actually being continuously created between everything all the time) those regions will remain unreachable and disconnected basically forever.
Latest Answers