(April 4, 2014 at 12:47 pm)Alex K Wrote:(April 4, 2014 at 12:47 pm)Fromper Wrote: Think of it this way. Best estimates from scientists are that there are 70 sextillion (7 with 22 zeroes after it) stars in the universe.
May I stress that the observed flatness of our universe and the lack of correlations in the CMB and the evidence for inflation point very strongly to the actual universe being muuuuuuuuch bigger than the observable universe. There is no reason to think that the universe just ends at our current horizon, which is entirely an artifact of light speed being what it is.
Interesting. I'm no expert on this stuff, but as I said, I recently read Hawking's "A Brief History of Time". As I understand what I read there, there is no "edge" to the universe, but I thought the curvature just meant that if you could travel faster than light in one direction, you'd eventually end up back where you started. Also, if you were traveling faster than light, then you'd be traveling 4 dimensions, not just 3, so you could arrive back where you started before you actually left.
But I didn't realize that there would be more out there than we're capable of observing due to light speed limitations.
That's MISTER Godless Vegetarian Tree Hugging Hippie Liberal to you.
