Forget Flat Earth Theory, now we have Flat Universe Theory!

[Anomalocaris]

Pray where did you study astronomy?

[Houston I Am]

Pray where did you study astronomy?

At a university, how about you?

[thesummerqueen]

You'll just have to take my word for it.

Who's got the pretty avatar now?

[Tiberius]

Chuck, Houston I Am,

You are both technically wrong. Whilst something infinite cannot expand (since it already occupies infinite space, and therefore there is no space for it to expand into), the universe can be infinite. What is expanding is the observable universe, which is finite. Whatever is beyond the observable universe may be infinite, we just don't know.

For your enjoyment, Dr Neil deGrasse Tyson summing up this entire thing in a minute and a half:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD1qAEeyets

[Anomalocaris]

Pray where did you study astronomy?

At a university, how about you?

Go to an accredited university. Or simply look on their astronomy department's web page.

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Chuck, Houston I Am,

You are both technically wrong. Whilst something infinite cannot expand (since it already occupies infinite space, and therefore there is no space for it to expand into), the universe can be infinite. ...

http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/questio...number=274

[Tiberius]

That's what I said. Something infinite cannot expand (which as the link states "if the universe is infinitely big, then the answer is simply that it isn't expanding into anything"), but the observable universe can. They are two different uses of the word "universe", one meaning the observable universe, and the other meaning absolutely everything (i.e. the entire infinite plane on which the observable universe expands).

Context is everything here.

[Anomalocaris]

That's what I said. Something infinite cannot expand (which as the link states "if the universe is infinitely big, then the answer is simply that it isn't expanding into anything"), but the observable universe can. They are two different uses of the word "universe", one meaning the observable universe, and the other meaning absolutely everything (i.e. the entire infinite plane on which the observable universe expands).

Context is everything here.

No, whether it is infinite or not is unimportant. Either way the concept of an expending universe (not the observed behavior of the observable universe) does not involve it expanding into anything since whether it is finite or infinite it is already everything. Think of it as everything expands. The only question is whether the set of everything is finite or infinite.

[Tiberius]

Yes, I am fully aware of what it means. The fact remains that the universe can be thought of as two separate things; the infinite (possibly) plane where everything sits (where the space expands), or the finite space itself which contains everything we see. The boundary of which is determined by the speed of light, as the video talked about briefly.

[Houston I Am]

Chuck, Houston I Am,

You are both technically wrong. Whilst something infinite cannot expand (since it already occupies infinite space, and therefore there is no space for it to expand into), the universe can be infinite. What is expanding is the observable universe, which is finite. Whatever is beyond the observable universe may be infinite, we just don't know.

Who says that this universe is the only universe? We can not be the only inhabited planet in this universe and this can not be the only universe to inhabit the totality of everything.

There are many theories, many theorists, and one is just as viable as another. Reality is that we could just be another atom in a bigger structure, with other atoms (solar systems & galaxies) within our space. Comets and asteroids just electrons moving in and out.

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Pray where did you study astronomy?

At a university, how about you?

Go to an accredited university. Or simply look on their astronomy department's web page.

I did go to an accredited university, maybe you should as well, since you did not answer my question.