How to visualize a universe that might have no end
In short: If the Sun were the size of a basketball, the nearest star would be 4,500 miles away. Yet, there are 10 sextillion such stars in our universe. To grasp the scale of infinity, we must look beyond our visible horizon into the geometry of space itself.
The observable universe is not the entirety of existence; it is a limit of information. Because the universe has been expanding for 13.8 billion years, the distance to the edge of our observable reach is approximately 93 billion light years across. This is because the expansion of space has pushed those distant objects further away, making the universe 46.5 billion light years from us in every direction. However, since the discovery of dark energy in 1998, we know this expansion is accelerating. This means light from the furthest reaches will eventually recede from us faster than the speed of light, creating a permanent cosmic horizon.
To determine if the universe is infinite, scientists look at the Cosmic Microwave Background—the leftover glow from the Big Bang. This radiation suggests that the universe is remarkably flat. In geometry, a flat surface can be infinite, but it can also be finite and 'closed.' For example, the surface of the Earth is finite, yet a traveler on its surface never hits a boundary because the geometry curves back around on itself. If the universe curves in a similar way, it could be a finite space with no edge, much like the surface of a sphere.
Currently, we cannot prove whether the universe is truly infinite or just a very large, curved loop. Our telescopes can only see a minuscule patch of the cosmos. Beyond our horizon, we can only speculate: space may simply continue forever with no endpoint, or it may wrap around in exotic ways. We are left with a profound geometric puzzle: whether the cosmos is a boundless plane or a finite shape that hides its boundaries through curvature.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Visualizing infinity. Is the universe infinite? the largest scales
- Also: Is the universe infinite? The answer gets weird fast
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