Table of Contents
How can the universe not have a center?
There no centre of the universe because there is no edge of the universe. In a finite universe, space is curved so that if you could travel billions of light years in a straight line you would eventually finish back where you started. It is also possible that our universe is infinite.
Why can’t we see a galaxy 15 billion light years away assume the universe is 14 billion years old?
Because looking 15 billion light-years away means looking to a time before the universe existed. Why can’t we see a galaxy 15 billion light-years away? Because no galaxies exist at such a great distance.
Has the center of the universe been found?
There is no centre of the universe! According to the standard theories of cosmology, the universe started with a “Big Bang” about 14 thousand million years ago and has been expanding ever since.
How big is the universe?
Though the universe is only 13.8 billion years old, it is also 93 billion light-years wide, which confuses some because nothing is supposed to be able to travel faster than the speed of light.
How far back in space can we see the universe?
Therefore, the longer we wait, the farther we can see, as light travels in a straight line at the speed of light. So after 13.8 billion years, you’d expect to be able to see back almost 13.8 billion light years, subtracting only how long it took stars and galaxies to form after the Big Bang.
How old is the universe?
You might think, in a Universe limited by the speed of light, that would be 13.8 billion light years: the age of the Universe multiplied by the speed of light. But 13.8 billion light years is far too small to be the right answer.
Is 92 billion light years big enough?
And so 92 billion light years might seem like a large number for a 13.8 billion year old Universe, but it’s the right number for the Universe we have today, full of matter, radiation, dark energy, and obeying the laws of General Relativity.