That is an article from Curious Youngsters, a brand new collection aimed toward youngsters. The Dialog is asking youngsters to ship in questions they’d like an knowledgeable to reply. All questions are welcome – critical, bizarre or wacky! This text was initially printed at The Dialog. The publication contributed the article to House.com’s Knowledgeable Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.
Maggie Lieu, Analysis Fellow, Faculty of Physics and Astronomy, College of Nottingham
Once we search for at a transparent night time sky, we see house: an enormous, seemingly infinite expanse that accommodates all the things we all know to exist.
To search out out what’s past house, a very good place to begin could be to determine the place house – our universe – ends. The issue is we don’t know the place house ends, or even when it ends in any respect.
The furthest we will see out into house, utilizing all of the know-how we presently have, is 46 billion light-years away. The quantity of house that we will see known as the observable universe. We do not know what’s on the market past this. Maybe it is extra galaxies and stars and house. Maybe it is the sting of the universe.
Associated: Curious Youngsters: Does House Go on Eternally?
Some folks suppose that the universe is infinite – that means it goes on endlessly, in each route. On this case, there’s nothing after house, as a result of house is all the things.
However even when the universe did have an finish, it may be very tough for us to determine the place the sting is.
Take into consideration our residence on planet Earth, for example. We all know that the Earth does not go on infinitely: It ends and house begins. However if you happen to have been to set off strolling, searching for the sting of the Earth, you’d by no means get there even if you happen to walked endlessly. It’s because Earth is a sphere. To determine that the Earth has an edge, and the place it’s, we have to know its form.
Understanding the form of the universe, may assist us work out the place its edge is. Astronomers are learning the universe proper now, searching for clues that may inform us extra about its form.
Understanding the universe
We all know what the entire of the Earth seems to be like as a result of we’ve been in a position to take footage of it from house – and a few astronauts have been as much as house to see it. Maybe we’d have the ability to see the sting of the universe too, if we knew the place to go to search for it.
There’s one other downside, although. The universe is increasing – and at sooner speeds. The house between us and different galaxies is rising. As they get additional away, it takes extra time for the sunshine from these distant galaxies to achieve us.
Sooner or later they are going to be so distant that the sunshine gained’t attain us in any respect. The night time sky shall be utterly darkish, and we may have little or no likelihood of seeing an edge if one exists. This growth of the universe may imply that the sting – and no matter is after it – is getting additional away from us, too.
Despite the fact that we don’t know the place the sting of our universe is, scientists nonetheless spend plenty of time eager about what comes after it.
A multiverse?
It is potential that there is not only one universe, and that past our universe there are others. We could possibly be residing in only one small a part of a “multiverse”.
Maybe our universe is contained inside its personal distinct area of house, separated from different universes by huge expanses of nothingness. Or possibly there are parallel universes squashed up shut to at least one one other, and even overlapping. This could imply there isn’t any actual “edge” in any respect, however universes mixing into each other.
The true nature of the universe could possibly be past our present capacity to visualise or comprehend. Understanding the form of the universe might assist us to search out out whether or not it goes on endlessly or has an finish. What comes after that could possibly be an excellent higher thriller.
Initially printed on The Dialog.