Submitted by Head-Plankton-7799 t3_yf2f97 in explainlikeimfive
Comments
KnitYourOwnSpaceship t1_iu5pqof wrote
> Where that edge is lies our cosmic horizon.
> So our observable universe has a size, and that is 13.8 billion light years (the age of the universe) in every direction from here.
Nitpick: because the universe is expanding, the size of the observable universe is 93 billion light-years, not 13.8
blow_up_the_outside t1_iu68d27 wrote
Not just a nitpick but a qualified correction! I have updated my reply
DiZ1992 t1_iu1cemr wrote
Note the article says "appears to be at the centre". It's a comment on the observation that the universe is expanding, not a literal statement. If you naively assume the universe is expanding from a single "origin point", then Hubble's observation of expansion happening everywhere would imply every point is the centre. This obviously doesn't make sense, and that's because the initial assumption that the universe is expanding from a single central point is incorrect.
Head-Plankton-7799 OP t1_iu1clr9 wrote
Thank you
speedycat2014 t1_iu1eivw wrote
Say you're on the surface of a balloon. As it inflates, everything stretches out from where you are like you are the center.
It's going to be that way at nearly any place on the balloon: as it expands, it all expands outward from wherever you are.
I think it's kind of like that.
Frazeur t1_iu35qb0 wrote
This is a common analogy explaining the universe and it is probably the best eli5 analogy.
_OBAFGKM_ t1_iu1cwql wrote
Key point: this is referring to the observable universe
Light travels at a speed and the universe has an age. How far away we're able to see is determined by how long the light has had to reach us. Our observable universe is a sphere with a radius of 93 billion light years. if you travelled a billion light years away from earth, you would still only be able to see a sphere around you with a radius of 93 billion light years. Your observable universe would look different but it would be the same size and it would be centered on you no matter where you went.
CFDietCoke t1_iu1y55u wrote
We don't know where the center of the universe is, or if it even has a center.
All we know if anywhere we look, the universe is expanding at the same rate. If everything around you is expanding at the same rate, then you are in the center of that thing. If everywhere you go in the universe, it is expanding around you at the same rate, then every point in the universe could be defined as "the center". But we can't actually prove that
sys64128 t1_iu25x1t wrote
You're in the ocean, just floating along. As best you can tell, in all directions around you, you appear to be in the center of the ocean. Same with anyone else out there (assuming there's no land in sight).
So it's merely referring to what we can observe. Others have said that there isn't a center, but I would just add a "that we know of" to the end of that. We just don't know.
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ppyrosis2 t1_iu1cuj8 wrote
All of space (Space-time) expanded from one point in space-time. That point was the centre of the universe.
BlueParrotfish t1_iu1g2p9 wrote
Hi /u/ppyrosis2!
It is a common misconception that the universe expanded from a single point in the moments after the Big Bang. If the universe is infinite, it has always been infinite; and if the universe is finite, it is closed. Either way, the universe did not start in a single point in the moment of the Big Bang, but rather the entire universe expanded at once.
blow_up_the_outside t1_iu1d8lh wrote
Simply because the universe, to the best of our knowledge, has no center.
We cannot say for sure but if our physics is right, the universe is very likely unbound and infinite. There is no edge and no end.
Then there is the thing we call the observable universe. It is what it sounds like, the universe we can observe.
Because light takes time to reach us, we are looking back in time the further away we are looking in space.
We can look so far back, the universe was a opaque gas cloud everywhere, and very little light from that time escaped that gas. Eventually we hit a theoretical stop, the birth of the universe, and we cannot look further back than that.
Where that edge is lies our cosmic horizon.
So our observable universe has a size, and that is 13.8 billion light years (the age of the universe) + the expansion of space, so 46.5 billion light years in every direction from here.
Actually, not here, but from wherever you are observing.
You are in the most present you can be, which also means you are in the most center position you can observe the universe, which means you are always in the center of the observable universe.
You are literally the center of the universe and with science to back it up.
But unfortunately that is not so special, since that is true for everyone and every point that exists.
But for the whole infinite universe, if it is truly infinite, there is no center.