How big is the universe? BIG. Really VERY BIG!!!

How can anyone know anything about this thing we call our universe when we are just stepping out of the small brained cave man era, of couse we have a bigger brains but what does that mean a million years from now we will be nothing more than small brained humans brushing paint on a canvas and we have not even figured out how it came to be.

[edit on 24-8-2006 by skitzo]

Giving the universe dimensions conflicts with the definition of ‘universe’.

The universe, as it is currently defined, represents ‘the totality of all matter and energy that exists in the vastness of space, whether known to human beings or not’ (Encarta Dictionary [compliments of MS:W]).

By this definition, having definite dimensions to our universe is impossible, as it does not account for the possibility of something/nothing existing outside that results from giving the universe dimensions. Therefore, if the universe does have definite bounds, it can no longer be called the universe and will have to be assigned a subordinate term.



[edit on 24/8/06 by Thaumaturgus]

I hate the talk about the "Universe" It melts my brain. Theres no way in a universe so big we are the only populated planet it would be foolish to think so and damm ignorant. Jeez i wonder if in all that space there is a planet similar to ours and that the civilisatiion upon there is similar to ours with regards to how they have evolved them too looking into the stars at night wondering like us.

As someone mentioned before what if when you go like seriously away from our known universe would you then see millions and millions of other universes in the dark space similar to the way we see galaxies. My head is fried.

Who made the universe???????

Surely someone somewhere knows the answers and is in the know. Chances are i cant ask him because he is probably like a trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion light years away. Might start my own real estate company selling universes on the internet

Thaumaturg says the universe can, by definition - say by convention - have no end. Or limits. Right and wrong at the same time. I suggest he reconsider, by taking into account that beyond the limit we’ve currently set - 180 billion light years across by 30 billion light years deep - there is nothing. No empty space. No void. Just nothing. As the universe expands - which it is doing counter-intuitively - the nothing-ness retreats.

posted by thesaint

I hate the talk about the "Universe" It melts my brain. There’s no way in a universe so big we are the only populated planet it would be foolish to think so and dam ignorant. [Edited by Don W]

I agree. At first blush. OTOH, if you decide we are talking about life forms such as we’d readily recognize, and not some form of life existing in quantum’s nearly instantaneous dimensions we can never get into, then there are darn few. The planet has to have enough heat from parent star, it must have a magnetic shield which in our case is a molten iron and nickel core, and it must have the necessary chemicals in the more or less appropriate ratios.

“ . . if in all that space there is a planet similar to ours and that the civilization upon there is similar to ours with regards to how they have evolved them too looking into the stars at night wondering like us.

Using the popular 300 billion galaxies, and 300 billion stars per galaxy, we get 90,000 x 10 to the 12th power. Stars. Then if you assume half of those stars have planet systems, and half of those have properly situated planets, and half of those have a magnetic shield, then you are still talking a big number of habitable planets. Carl Sagan added the factors of life evolving into higher forms then another cut for civilization to take place thereby further reducing the number of instance for beings enough like ourselves to want to communicate.

It is my feeling that the distances are so great that we will not be able to make any contact. No one can deny the real possibility - especially people like me who hold that life is inevitable in the proper circumstances such as on earth - but I have no ability to conceive how we can cross those distances.

“Who made the universe? Surely someone somewhere knows the answers . . “

Well, I formerly thought about the “singularity” like this - all the matter (and space) was compressed into this one place or point, a singularity, which is made possible by thinking of it as being almost infinitely dense and almost infinitely hot. But I think cosmologists scoff at that idea. You’ve got to get your head around there was “nothing” in the singularity, and then there was what we see today. Quit looking behind. Look ahead.



[edit on 8/25/2006 by donwhite]

Originally posted by thesaint

Who made the universe???????

Surely someone somewhere knows the answers and is in the know.

Not me! But I can hazard a guess.

My take is that the Universe was always there. It didn't explode in all its finery 15 billion years ago from a microscopic so called singularity, whatever that means. It's a hare brained concept.

Just because the known universe is expanding as inferred from red shifts and what have you, it doesn’t mean that you automatically extrapolate it and compress the whole darn'd thing backwards into a point. For 'physical' scientists most results are inferred by good old logic. Otherwise it's a lemon.

But seriously, I think that the universe can only begin to be understood when we start comprehending the other dimensions. It is impossible to even begin to understand the concept of the universe in our present three dimensional way of thinking.