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What Lies Beyond the Observable Universe?
Daily Galaxy ^ | 8/23/2022 | Maxwell Moe

Posted on 08/24/2022 2:12:24 AM PDT by LibWhacker

Hubble Ultra Deep Field

It’s possible that the universe isn’t uniform past what we can see, and conditions are wildly different from place to place, says Caltech astrophysicist Sean Carroll. “That possibility is the cosmological multiverse. We don’t know if there is a multiverse in this sense, but since we can’t actually see one way or another, it’s wise to keep an open mind.”

“Astronomers estimate that the observable universe — a bubble 14 billion light-years in radius, which represents how far we have been able to see since its beginning — contains at least two trillion galaxies and a trillion trillion stars,” writes Dennis Overbye in New York Times Science. “Most of these stars and galaxies are too far and too faint to be seen with any telescope known to humans.”

“Because we can only see so far,” says Carroll, “we’re not sure what things are like beyond our observable universe. The universe we do see is fairly uniform on large scales, and maybe that continues literally forever.”

Physicist Sean Carroll Explains Parallel Universes to Joe Rogan

Fred Adams, theoretical cosmologist at the University of Michigan, wrote in an email to The Daily Galaxy, “We live within what is called the observable universe, which is the volume of the universe where `one thing can affect another’, and within this volume we see the universe to be uniform. Significantly, we can actually do experiments within this volume and those experiments (so far) tell us that the whole volume is extremely uniform.”

The observable universe may not be all of physical reality; some cosmologists speculate that ‘our’ big bang wasn’t the only one—that physical reality is grand enough to encompass an entire ‘multiverse’.”

From our tiny blue water planet, the universe appears inconceivably vast. In the grand cosmic scheme of things, all the light in the observable universe provides about as much illumination as a 60-watt bulb seen from 2.5 miles away, says Marco Ajello, an astrophysicist at Clemson University, who led a team that has measured all of the starlight ever produced throughout the history of the observable universe.

A Bubble with a Diameter of 27.4 billion light years

The observable Universe is a bubble centered on the Earth, with a diameter of 27.4 billion light years – a bubble growing in size at a rate of two light years (one on each side) every year. The universe extends beyond our cosmic horizon, just as the sea extends beyond the sailor’s horizon, and may well (unlike the ocean) be infinite. The great mystery that will perhaps never be answered is what lies beyond the cosmic horizon.

On the basis of observations made with instruments such as the Hubble Space Telescope, it is estimated that there are hundreds of billions, and perhaps trillions, of galaxies in the observable Universe. But this observable domain, writes the great British astrophysicist Martin Rees, “may not be all of physical reality; some cosmologists speculate that ‘our’ big bang wasn’t the only one—that physical reality is grand enough to encompass an entire ‘multiverse’.”

Even conservative astronomers are confident that the volume of space-time within range of our telescopes—what astronomers have traditionally called ‘the universe’—is only a tiny fraction of the aftermath of the Big Bang. We’d expect far more galaxies located beyond the horizon, continues Rees, “unobservable, each of which (along with any intelligences) will evolve rather like our own.”

More of the Same?

We may, by the end of this century, concludes Rees, be able to ask whether or not we live in a multiverse, and how much variety its constituent ‘universes’ display. The answer to this question will determine how we should interpret the ‘biofriendly’ universe in which we live, sharing it with any aliens with whom we might one day make contact.

The edge of the observable universe is the place beyond which light hasn’t had time to reach us since the beginning of the universe, says Jo Dunkley, Professor, Physics and Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, whose research is in cosmology and studying the origins and evolution of the Universe. “That’s only the edge of what we can see, and beyond that is probably more of the same stuff that we can see around us: super-clusters of galaxies, each enormous galaxy containing billions of stars and planets.”

Or Wildly Different from Place to Place

Or maybe, as Sean Carroll says, it’s possible that the universe isn’t uniform past what we can see, and conditions are wildly different from place to place. A place with more of the same, or a terra incognita with dragons and sea monsters.

Fred Adams concluded in his email to The Daily Galaxy, “The observable universe, as defined above, is part of a larger volume. The region just outside the observable universe is expected to be uniform as well. Here, we *expect* the uniformity, based on theoretical considerations, but we cannot do experiments to show that this is the case. On still larger volumes, much much larger than the observable volume, we expect the regions to be less uniform. On this larger scale, it is indeed possible for the conditions to `vary wildly from place to place’ as you say. Significantly, we are saying that it is *possible* for the conditions to vary wildly, and we are *not* saying that they are known to vary.”

The image at the top of the page took researchers at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias almost three years to produce this deepest image of the Universe ever taken from space, by recovering a large quantity of ‘lost’ light around the largest galaxies in the iconic Hubble Ultra-Deep Field.


TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: astronomy; beyond; cosmology; god; itsinthebible; observable; science; universe
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To: redshawk

Thank you for the link.


41 posted on 08/24/2022 5:02:40 AM PDT by glennaro (Live life unbullied and unafraid. Choose to ignore or fight the irrationality that surrounds you.)
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To: LibWhacker

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1


42 posted on 08/24/2022 5:04:08 AM PDT by Cedar
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To: LibWhacker

And it’s all ours, except Europa.


43 posted on 08/24/2022 5:09:13 AM PDT by mikey_hates_everything
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To: LibWhacker

And then what’s beyond that and then beyond that and beyond that?

Like a comedian said, “You think you are living in the United States??! You are living on a f’n rock hurtling through infinite space!! ZOOM OUT!!!”


44 posted on 08/24/2022 5:12:35 AM PDT by Hammerhead
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To: LibWhacker
What Lies Beyond the Observable Universe?

As Einstein himself once said when asked a similar question…

God.

45 posted on 08/24/2022 5:16:23 AM PDT by Magnatron
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To: LibWhacker
We’d expect far more galaxies located beyond the horizon, continues Rees, “unobservable, each of which (along with any intelligences) will evolve rather like our own.”

That is a rather presumptive assumption.

I would assume that any intelligence would evolve to take advantage of or to live in the environment in which they live.

Consider the whales and dolphins. We humans are just beginning to understand their intelligence. Not because either we or they are not intelligent enough but because our intellects evolved in such different environments.

46 posted on 08/24/2022 5:16:48 AM PDT by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spiritI)
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To: Salamander
GRAVITY: It's not just a good idea, IT'S THE LAW!

🤣🤣🤣

CC

47 posted on 08/24/2022 5:34:52 AM PDT by Celtic Conservative (My cats are more amusing than 200 channels worth of TV.)
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To: LibWhacker

Millyways, the restaurant at the End of the Universe.


48 posted on 08/24/2022 5:36:29 AM PDT by The Louiswu (If your child requires validation from Chuck E. Cheese you have failed as a parent. )
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To: LibWhacker

Producing numbers to delineate that which is totally unknown is just foolish.

When considering the universe, the only value is infinity


49 posted on 08/24/2022 5:41:09 AM PDT by bert ( (KWE. NP. N.C. +12) Juneteenth is inequality day)
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To: LibWhacker

And the space probes we launched in the 70’s have traveled about 18 light hours; not even a light day yet, a fraction of a light year.

Observe all the stuff we can see out there and consider, the God of Israel made it by speaking the word, and is infinitely bigger than that.


50 posted on 08/24/2022 5:48:12 AM PDT by lurk (u)
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To: LibWhacker

If it’s not observable we cannot know.


51 posted on 08/24/2022 5:58:44 AM PDT by I want the USA back (Damn it! We need Trump! America First! Bring America back! We're being governed by fascists.)
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To: LibWhacker

One of the great projects of the last decade or so is the rejection of the Big Bang and all of its implications by people who assert there is no God. This is because the very notion of a “beginning” is one of the odd and very controversial aspects of the Genesis story. The discovery of the Big Bang and a definite point in time for this beginning has been fodder for analysis that shows show intelligence in the creation of the universe.

Return of the God Hypothesis: Three Scientific Discoveries Revealing the Mind Behind the Universe - Steven Meyer
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/41088454-the-return-of-the-god-hypothesis

In “The Return of the God Hypothesis,” Steven Meyer asserts an analysis that explains the impossibility of the coincidence of parameters and events that must have all occurred at the very inception of time that makes life/existence possible.

One of the arguments against this insane level of coincidence is that a vast number of Universes exist that these values are different and we just happen to be on the one lucky one. (Not your Hollywood version of the Multiverse where each multiverse has life) And when this explanation was needed to argue against God, it became a project to inject this idea into Pop Culture.

The “revelation” of issues with the Big Bang that has recently been in vogue may or may not be another front being opened in this battle to sway the hearts and minds of populations that have begun to question the Darwinist/Atheist viewpoint. Most of this debate is above the heads of 97% of the general public, and while the Scientists who are expressing these doubts solely because of digitally enhanced (manipulated) imagery are portrayed as heretics, their speculations are breathlessly reported as if fact. And, the people doing the reporting have little or no basis to understand even what they are being told so they do like they have done for other complex topics, just go with what they are told.

Science moves forward through heavy questioning. SO, these questions need to be addressed and the ideas and suppositions proposed need to be examined. This is the way. But, we also must understand that there are agendas warping this pursuit that have civilizational implications, and this needs to be taken into account at the same time.


52 posted on 08/24/2022 6:10:08 AM PDT by dalight
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To: P.O.E.
So the Catholic Church was right and Galileo was wrong after all!


53 posted on 08/24/2022 6:16:36 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (“May your neighbors respect you, trouble neglect you, angels protect you and heaven accept you”)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Of course not.


54 posted on 08/24/2022 6:24:44 AM PDT by bert ( (KWE. NP. N.C. +12) Juneteenth is inequality day)
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To: devane617
We aren’t allowed to know

What is your evidence for that?

55 posted on 08/24/2022 6:29:53 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: LibWhacker

My lost car keys?


56 posted on 08/24/2022 6:31:16 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: All
#1 It's irrelevant what is out there.
#2 We are in a computer simulation.
57 posted on 08/24/2022 6:34:42 AM PDT by BipolarBob (Vote NOW!! to repeal the Second Law of Thermodynamics like your life depends on it.)
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To: bert
I forgot the line from the article proving the Catholic church was right...
The observable Universe is a bubble centered on the Earth
And not just the puny Solar System, either!
58 posted on 08/24/2022 7:05:23 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (“May your neighbors respect you, trouble neglect you, angels protect you and heaven accept you”)
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To: P.O.E.

Note it does not say the Earth is at the center of the universe. It says, “The observable Universe is a bubble centered on the Earth;” in other words, the Earth is at the center of what we can see. It’s like we’re in a forest and can see 40 yards in all directions. That would not mean we were in the center of the forest, only that we were in the center of the observable forest. Furthermore, everyone in the universe sees the same thing; he may think he’s at the center of the universe but he’s only at the center of what he can see.


59 posted on 08/24/2022 7:59:06 AM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

The Catholic Church hierarchy is a conglomeration of ignorant priestly snobs who lack the ability to trash their ancient beliefs and accept modern truth


60 posted on 08/24/2022 8:00:00 AM PDT by bert ( (KWE. NP. N.C. +12) Juneteenth is inequality day)
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