What is "The End of the Universe"?
Today, in the headlines of books and newspapers, you will see expressions such as "So far, humanity is nearing the end of the universe." Then, people who know something about the universe will immediately think that this is "the end of the observable universe." That is, a range of about 46.4 billion light-years in the radius of our own human beings. (Huh?) Isn't the end of the universe 13.8 billion light-years away? Readers who think so are welcome to read my short article)
When the word "cosmic end" is mentioned, most people's impression stays at the end of the universe in space, that is, the place where space ends.
(What do we think of as the end of the universe?) Photo credit: benjamin davies on unsplash)
Space exists only within the "observable universe" – which is really hard to believe. What's more, today's theory of the universe has developed to a stage where it can talk about the "observable universe".
What color is the universe?
Let's put aside the question of what is beyond the "end of the observable universe" and introduce an indicator to explain how far the universe is currently observed.
This indicator is the cosmic background radiation.
The state in which electromagnetic waves fill the entire universe is the cosmic microwave background radiation.
Everyone knows the term "milky way". The radiation that shimmers like a cloud is the background radiation. The Milky Way is also known as background radiation, but their entities are actually a collection of dark stars invisible to the naked eye.
In the disk galaxy, the Milky Way seems to us to be a river in the air.
(Galaxy photo credits john fowler/flickr)
Countless dark distant galaxies shimmered, but with only the existing telescope equipment, there were still pitch-black fields where no celestial bodies could be observed.
That is to say, the universe is not the dark we think it is.
If you ask what color the sky is during the day, everyone will answer without thinking, blue. What about the night sky?
"The night sky is dark" is only because our eyes have limited sensitivity. If measured accurately, the night sky should also have a certain brightness, shimmering light, and even color.
So, what exactly is the color?
In fact – the universe is close to cream.
When you think of the universe, you think of stars and galaxies floating in the pitch-black space. But in fact, if you look closely, you will find that the dark space of the universe is shining with a cream-colored light. (This color is also the color used on the cover of my book "What is at the End of the Universe", and interested readers can buy it to see)
The universe as we see it is only part of the universe.
So, we need to rethink whether the "end of the universe" is just an "extension of the direction of space"?
As mentioned earlier, the direct observable range of the universe is now limited to the "cosmic horizon" (radius of 46.4 billion light years), that is, the distance at which the universe travels at the speed of light from its inception to the present.
But based on the current results of cosmological research, beyond the field of horizon, how does the universe expand and extend? I can cite the "theory of the expansion of the universe" to give a logical explanation of this.
(The universe since the Big Bang is facing re-censorship Image credit: getty images)
Why is there an "extremely homogeneous universe" everywhere in the "observable universe"?
One of the most powerful answers is the theory that the smaller " homogeneous " fields were extremely expanding at the beginning of the universe — this is the theory of accelerated expansion of the universe.
How much did the universe expand during the period of accelerated expansion? There are no clear figures. But if a homogeneous distribution can be made within the "event horizon," the universe expands by at least 10 to the 30th power (10 billion times 10 billion times 10 billion times 10 billion times).
This is only the minimum estimate, and it may actually be much more than that, it may be the 40th power of 10 or the 50th power of 10.
The Creator God of the universe seems to be using cosmic expansion to integrate the universe in order to accomplish the goals of "the same density" and "flat space without distortions." Naturally, this does not mean that this integrated cosmic range happens to be our current "observable range."
The "observable range" is the distance from the beginning of the universe to the observation point, and the travel distance of light, but we do not know which base point the observer is at at the expansion of the universe.
Therefore, it is natural to conclude that according to the theory of the accelerated expansion of the universe, the scope of the expansion of the universe must be much larger than the current "event horizon". (Personally I think it will be dozens of cubes of 10)
(The universe is far larger than the "observable end of the universe" Image source: nasa goddard space flight center / flickr)
That is to say, under the premise of acknowledging the theory of the accelerated expansion of the universe, there is the following conclusion: the end of the universe in space far exceeds the "horizon" of 46.4 billion light-years radius. Not only that, but beyond the "event horizon" there is still a "smooth" universe with "consistent density" and "no distortion".
What is outside the universe outside of the "universe"?
So the question ensues, what is the universe that is beyond the scope of the "theory of accelerated expansion of the universe"? ”
Unfortunately, from here onwards it is an area that cannot be answered using modern scientific knowledge. In fact, there are very few scholars who specialize in this area.
Even so, there are several research directions.
One of them is the question, "Is the outer space of the universe infinitely extended, or does it have a finite volume?" "Then diverge from here."
Although this cannot be discussed in detail, there is a physical possibility that the "infinite universe" has a "finite volume".
Read about it
The universe is a unity of all time, space, and its contents; it contains planets, stars, galaxies, intergalactic space, subatomic particles, and all matter and energy, cosmos refers to space, and Zeus refers to time. The current observable universe is about 93 × 109 light-years (28.5 × 10^9 parsecs), with a maximum of 27,160 million parsecs; the size of the entire universe may be infinite, but the inconclusive is inconclusive. The development of physical theory and the observation of the universe have led human beings to deduce the composition and evolution of the universe.
Illustration: In this diagram, the timeline is oriented from left to right, and one of the dimensions of the universe is hidden, so at any given time in the diagram, the universe is displayed in a disc-like "slice" pattern.
The observable universe is a spherical space centered on the observer, small enough for the observer to observe objects in that range, that is, the light emitted by the object has enough time to reach the observer. The most accurate estimate of the age of the universe as of 2013 is 13.798 ± 0.37 billion years.
Illustration: A simulated full map of the observable universe, with the Virgo Supercluster in its center, but too small to be seen.
However, due to the expansion of the universe, the radius of the observable universe is not a fixed 13.8 billion light-years, and the current distance of the ancient celestial bodies observed by humans is much farther away than their original positions (measured by the proper distance, the inherent distance is equal to the current time point and the co-shift distance). It is now speculated that the observable universe has a radius of about 46.5 billion light-years and a diameter of about 93 billion light-years. According to cosmological principles, the distance from any direction to the edge of the observable universe is roughly equal.
Resources
1. WJ Encyclopedia
2. Astronomical terms
3. There are fish - gendai
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