Where is the centre of the universe?

Has sience any clue where can be the place where all started? I mean Big Bang.I know we currently cannot see the edge of the universe (because of maximum light speed) but could we see the centre if we know where to "look"?

its possible, assuming the big bang theory is correct, (which most evidence proves it is) there is a way. Everything in space is moving apart, but ad differing speeds. There is a way of finding out how fast say for example a galaxy is moving away from us, which is called "redshift".

the further into the red end (before anyone says, this is a scientific answer, so u dirty people don't say anything. u no who u r ) of the spectrum, the faster it will be travelling.

now, at the moment, the way i believe finding the centre could be done is by using a computer program, which has most if not all the visible stars/galaxies' redshift speeds, and basically reversing them, so that by watching them all, they would all "backtrack" back to a specific point in the universe.

That was kinda complicated stuff but hey, isn't life on ATS? Anyway, hope this could answer your question. i believe it might be possible, but probably not at the present technological state.

Peace love and dove

When we find the center of the universe we will find that is a mega collection spreading across billions of light years and filled to the brim with all the universe's lost socks, lighters, and remote controls.

If the space is infinite, then the center the universe should be the place where you are.
So, concluding; you are the center of the universe.

The universe has no 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. In both examples, groups of galaxies completely fill the universe and are moving apart at all points making the universe expand

www.anzwers.org...

Where is the centre of the universe?

I put it away in drawer for safekeeping, cant quite recall now, its probly with the unpaid lightbill. Its dark out there!

The universe has no center.

The edge of the universe, can be defined at the point where the furthest galaxies are. this is the edge of the matter-universe. after this, is just plain void. However, as u said, galaxies are moving off at all points in the universe, so if a computer simulation was made to show the direction of all these galaxies, then it could be reversed and this way, the galaxies would all trace back to a centre position.. where the big bang took place. This is where the centre of the universe is. where theres an explosion, theres an epicenter, and thats what the centre of the universe would be, the epicenter of the big bang.

Richmond, Virginia.

Apparently.

Other than knowing where our Sun/Solar system is in relation to the Milkyway, do we even know here the Milkyway Galaxy is in relation to the Universe. It would be hard to plot all the Galaxies into their exact location. I don't think a super computer would help much on this. We would have to know where our Galaxy is located. It is definitely in this Universe but where in relation to other Galaxies. I think that this question gets back to the Earth being the center and the Sun and Stars orbit our Earth planet.

from our prespective we are at the center of the universe. Everything is moving away from us, and the further out we look, the less we find of even things that look like galaxies.

If we could veiw the galaxy in its entireity without the delay of light speed we might find something else

Darkside is right on. Think of it like a balloon. We exist on the surface, and space expands as the balloon blows up. At the beginning when the balloon is a single point, that's the center. When it blows up, where's the center? Each point in the universe has an equal and completely valid claim to being the center, because everything moves from everything else.

There is no center because the center of the balloon is not on the surface. It's like asking what the center of the Earth's surface is.

Amory is on to something here, but i want to help people having the same problem i did for years....

With the baloon analogy, you need to consider the 2-Dimensional surface of the baloon... Not the Center that we all know exists... a baloon in 3 dimensions can easily have a center, inside all the rubber and air that makes up the baloon.

However, think of it as a tiny ant on the surface of the baloon. Take any measurements you like, but as the baloon expands... well, the "center" of the 2-dimensional surface expands as well.

The trick is, that with space (unlike the baloon), every point is moving away from every other (generally... not within specific solar systems, etc...). Hence, space itself (like the surface of the baloon) is expanding, but in all three dimensions (and, well, time, too...).

Yet we continue to think of it as... things expanding into a 3 dimensional space. Even though that's just not quite the case... space *itself* is expanding.

hopefully, this helps...

From our solar system and Earth in particular, we have managed to orientate to what we call true North and true South. The Southern Cross is for navigating in the southern hemisphere and Polaris of the Big Dipper for the Nothern Hemisphere. Inertial Navigational Equipment use gyros and accellerometers to align these points for true North not magnetic north. In respect to spherical trigonometry, this equipment displays latitude and longitude coordinates to the tenth of an arch second while flying a great circle from one spot on the Earth to another. This also requires calculations for considering Schuler's Loop due to the Earth's rotation.

Without being to lengthy, these calculations need to be considered just for surface navigation on one small planet that rotates on an axis and orbits around a star called the Sun. To begin to calculate the center of the Universe would require serveral points of reference outside of the Milkyway Galaxy and a large fast computer to calculate the three dimensional spherical trig involved in such an undertaking.

We have not found the center of our Milkway Galaxy as yet. Scientist seem to think there is a black hole at each galaxy center. This enormous amount of energy is attracting the solar systems into orbit similar to the Stars attracting planets in orbit forming solar systems. If we could apply the same principles to the Universe, we may discover the Galaxies are orbiting the center or confirm a contiued expansion or possibly both. Galaxies orbiting the center of the Universe could still cause red and blue phase shifts in respect to our position within the Milky Way.

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basic geometry:

Center of circle is not anywhere on the circle

Center of sphere is not anywhere on the sphere

Center of 4D sphere is not anywhere on the sphere.

If the Universe is a 4D sphere the center is off in the 4th dimension and not in contact with anywhere in the Universe.
.

It's like the little 5 year old girl who was asked: Why is the universe here?

Her answer is both simple and profound: Where else would it be?

Or mayby like the little boy who was told by his teacher, when he asked what was out between the stars, "nothing" he was told.

He quickly answered back, saying: "That can't be true--nothing itself is something.

[edit on 11-6-2005 by Astronomer68]

[edit on 11-6-2005 by Astronomer68]

Where is the centre of the universe?

...in the center.

Seriously, if the BB is correct than yes it is possible.
Just keep in mind the light traveled and the distance....so we could be
looking at some really old stuff. Or it could empty cause all it originally produced has gone outward.

God's or God-Mind's point of view is the center of the universe...!

or It could also be where "Darkness" and "Lightness" meet...

Josekinuc, and the god-oriented responders... did you find faults in my earlier post, or for that matter Amorymeltzer's? It is somewhat clear that there is no need for a sentient being at the non-existant "center" of the universe, but if you think that there is clear evidence, please let us know.

Slank, i like your brevity, and agree up to your last point. Our universe, indeed, has 3 spatial and 1 time dimension... but a "center" is thought of as a spatial location, dependant on the 3 spatial dimensions, and in the case of an expanding 4-sphere would remain in the same place, i.e. non-time dependant. So, no, the "center" would not be located in the fourth, or temporal dimension. But your underlying assumption that 4-space is much more complex than a simple 1-d measurement speaks to the core of this issue. perhaps the analogy below will help illustrate the difference i take with your explanation.

Here is another way to conceptualize the issue:

consider a standard ruler. it measures one physical dimension in, say, 1cm divisions. If we shrink it down to the absolute smallest space it can occupy, then there is hardly any space between the lines... well, if we go one step further, and create a singularity by shrinking this ruler even more... there are no spaces between the lines, indeed, the lines cease to exist seperately, and even, at some point... at all.

An interesting case, but obviously, there were lines before we shrank it down, right? and, one could guess, that the "center" would be the point between the highest and lowest lines. That should be where everything shrinks down do... given some reasonable assumptions. This time-reversed example of 1 dimensional expansion is interesting, but only distantly related to the expansion of the universe. With three spatial dimensions, things are a bit different:

Next, consider a tiny, sphere. When it is at its earliest, and smallest state, there is only one "line" on it (though it is only a dot at this point). When we expand the three dimensions which it can help us measure, that dot spreads out... and is everywhere along the surface of the sphere. Hence the original "center"-like point is now... everywhere. If, at any point in time we wanted to, we could start to draw lines along the sphere in even 1cm increments... and we would soon see that all of those lines are moving away from each other. but the original dot, which represented the center... is still... everywhere.

no need for a god or godess there, no need for a non-spatial (i.e. 4-th dimension) center, and no need for a center at all.

elegant solution, don't you think? most cosmologists would agree... and even adding inflation, and other theories does not change things much on this point.

I've read through the thread, and tried to understand the different points of view. And it all comes down to "point of view".
The Universe seems to have as many centres as there are those able to percieve it. Each perception point is the exact centre.

Originally posted by Krpano
If the space is infinite, then the center the universe should be the place where you are.
So, concluding; you are the center of the universe.

Where is the centre of the universe?

There is no centre of the universe! According to the standard theories of cosmology, the universe started with a "Big Bang" about 14 billion years ago and has been expanding ever since. Yet there is no centre to the expansion. It is the same everywhere. The Big Bang should not be visualised as an ordinary explosion. The universe is not expanding out from a centre into space. The whole universe itself is expanding and it is doing so equally at all places, as far as we can tell.

In 1929 Edwin Hubble announced that he had measured the speed of galaxies at different distances away and had discovered that the further they were away from us the faster they were receding. This seems to suggest that we are at the centre of the expanding universe, but it must be remembered that motion is relative. If the universe is expanding uniformly according to Hubble's law it will appear to do so from any galaxy.

math.ucr.edu...

Click the link for the entire article. It's not very long and helped me understand this a little more.

I am still trying to figure out if the galaxies are orbiting an undefined center or if they are expanding or if they are doing both at the same time. Stephen Hawkings seems to think they are expanding. Who am I to argue with him?

In his thoughts, he is concerned as to if there is enough expanding energy to keep the universe expanding or will it reach a point where the mass will cause it to reverse into contracting. I do not know. Prove to me the phase shifts of red and blue cannot occur with galaxies orbiting in respect to an undefined center. It can stiil expand, contract or stay the same while orbiting.