Is the Universe bigger than what we can observe through the telescopes?

Question

Or is it actually larger and goes further out? Just wondering.

Answer 1

As far as i'm aware there is no telescope that can see to the end of the universe, we know the universe is expanding from viewing what we can see with our telescopes, one doesn't need to see the air around us to know that it is there.

Answer 2

yesss,

you cant see the universe through telescope.

the universe referring to EVERYTHING in it ,

meaning if you have,  you've seen every star, every planet, every satelliete.

thats impossible, because the universe in infinite.

Answer 3

The furthest possible distance we could see, if our telescopes were sensitive enough, is about 46 billion light-years.  But the whole universe is at least 39 billion light-years, and could be larger.  So the question is not decided (yet).  The whole universe might be larger than we can see, it might be smaller.   If it is smaller, then we could see across the whole universe and back around to ourselves again.

Answer 4

The farther we look the farther back in time we see. I believe the farthest galaxies we can see are actually in the process of formation and anything beyond this point is before the formation of stars and galaxies. So, the very edges of what we can see are still forming therefore we have yet to see "edge" of the universe therefore the universe is bigger than what we can see today.

Answer 5

That's a very good question. We have no definitive answer to this question, but I think the general notion amongst astronomers is that the observable universe (the part that we can see with telescopes) is but a tiny portion of the whole universe.

Inflation Theory, which is the predominant theory explaining the universe in its earliest stages, implies a universe that underwent runaway expansion at the big bang. The implication of Inflation is that the universe is absolutely gargantuan - even infinitely big.

Data from the WMAP satellite also appears to confirm some of the predictions of Inflation, e.g. the geometry of the universe is almost "flat". This is comparable to our perspective here on Earth. From our point of view, the Earth looks flat, but only because it is so huge compared to a person. It is possible that the same applies to our perspective of the universe.

Answer 6

yes

Answer 7

Yes it is much bigger than what we obseve through the telescopes.