Is there anything beyond the universe?

Question

can you just keep getting farther, farther, and farther? or does it eventually end?

Answer 1

It is hard to define the END of the universe in terms of dimensions.  The current thinking is that the Universe is spherical and that you would never actually reach an end point you would simply continue to travel around the spherical universe.

As for is there anything beyone the universe......that is still widely debated.  Some believe that the universe was formed from a plane of universal material so in theory maybe that is outside of the dimensions of our universe.  Other believe that the universe is a one off and that there is nothing outside of our universe.

For more information about the universe check out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universe

Answer 2

You can keep going farther and farther.  It does not end in a brick wall.

But just to add spice, it turns out that the edge of the visible Universe is where, due to the expansion of space, objects are moving away from us at the speed of light.  And even if you head in one direction forever, it turns out that you can never catch up to these objects.  Never.  There is too much space added between you and the objects you were trying to catch.  And eventually, your new visible Universe might not even include the place you started  from.  And you can never make it back.

Answer 3

one of the great mysteries of life! but if it wasnt a mystery, then what would we ponder over? i think that it never ends and never begins, and i aslo think there are parallel dimensions of other universes !life has no limits!

Answer 4

Two theories here (actually more, but lets keep it simple).

If the universe is infinite than obviously you could keep getting farther, and farther, and farther...

If the universe is finite than there will still be no edge. If I were to take off from Earth in a spaceship and fly in a perfectly stright line I would end up right back at Earth from the opposite direction. If you have ever played an old video game where if you fly off the edge of the map you end up on the opposite side... the universe is like that. A popular analogy is a the surface of a sqhere. You can keep going around and around the surface, but there is no edge... the universe is like that except with another spacial dimension.

Hope you understood all that.

As for whether or not there is anything outside the universe... no one knows. Something within our universe cannot be affected by something outside (to our knowledge) so it would be impossible to know what might be beyond...

I like the Brane theory though. It goes like this:

Before the Big Bang there were two multi-dimensional branes. They collided and the universe was created (via the big bang). The newly created universe sperated the two branes so they cannot collide again. When the universe dies of Heat Death (all the stars dying and all the black hole decaying until there is just a void) there will be nothing to stopping the branes from colliding and creating another Big Bang.

Answer 5

You get a star for thinking out side of the box, but I don't think anyone knows.

Answer 6

While the common use of "universe" means that it's just everything, and if you're somewhere you're in it, a real answer is more complicated.  

As the universe it constantly expanding (and at an ever-increasing rate), and since we currently don't have the capability to move faster than light, you cannot beat the expansion.  There is a way of determining that rate, but I don't know off the top of my head.

Now, the theory of multiple universes would require moving beyond three demensions, which we also don't have the capability of doing.

Answer 7

The truth is that we don't know and anybody arguing with that would be very arrogant.

The chances are that we will never know because, as the universe expands, we simply can't reach its 'edge.'

Furthermore, the universe can't be seen as you see an object on earth because:

1) there is no absolute reference in the universe. If you try to draw it on a piece of paper, you already do a mistake because your paper has a edge or something where lines be be reffered to as a distance from. The universe cannot do that.

2) There is no simultaneity in the universe. There aren't two things that are happening at a distance in the same frame of time, space and inertia. What you see is not what it is: The sun is already what it was 8 minutes ago and remote galaxies, what they were and where they were billions of years ago. The Big Bang is not seen as a point in space but a sphere around us.

3) Wherever you are in the universe, you see it as if you were in the middle of it. That's why all galaxies seem to move away from us as if we were the center of the universe. We are not; anywhere you would observe the same.

So, you see, the question is difficult to answer; if it will ever be possible.

Answer 8

No; the "universe" referrs to all of existence. You could argue that there are other non-physical dimensions outside the universe (Heaven for example, with which I would agree), but as far as physical existence goes, the universe is it.

It is impossible that the universe is infinite, no matter how people argue it is. If the universe is truly infinite, then somewhere out there, on a planet exactly like Earth, someone exactly like me with the same name as me, is sitting in a house exactly like mine, typing on a computer exactly like mine, with a bunny sitting on his feet that's exactly like my bunny, writing this exact same message to someone exactly like you. Think about it. Infinity entails absolutely no end; there will always be one more of everything. If the universe is truly infinite, then on an Earth somewhere out there exactly like this Earth in every way, Elvis Presley is still alive and singing in an old woman's bathtub while watching videos of sheep chewing on chunks of copper in outer space.

There is an "end" to the universe, certainly.

Answer 9

No. The Big Bang CREATED both space and time. The Universe means everything. It's a difficult concept but there is notthing outside of the Universe because there is no outside. Before the Big Bang, space did not exist.

There is one theory regarding bubble universes. However, the theory lacks proof and in fact is unprovable since by definition it is impossible for us to leave our Universe.

Since the Universe had a beginning, it does have boundaries. The observable Universe is about 13.7 billion light years in radius. This is also thought to be close to the age of the Universe (14 billion years). But the actual size has been expanding for 14 billion years so the REAL size of the Universe must factor in this expansion rate.

A galaxy that we see at 13.7 billion light years away means that the light from that galaxy has taken 13.7 billion years to get to our eyes. This means that the galaxy has continued to travel away from us for another 13.7 billion years since it emitted that light.

So the actual physical diameter of our Universe today is estimated at 78 billion light years in diameter.

The Universe is isotropic. This means that each galaxy will appear to be at the center of the Universe. This means that a space traveller, no matter how fast he goes, will never see an end or edge. Current theory holds that space is curved (similar in thought to our planet being round) so if you travelled long enough in space in what you think is a straight line, eventually you would just end up where you started from.