Quote:
Originally Posted by photon
Asking what's outside the expanding universe is like asking what's north of the north pole, the question doesn't really apply.
There's different ideas as to the true nature of the universe's shape. It could be finite and bounded (like the surface of a sphere or a torus, you go far enough eventually you'll get back to where you began), but we don't see any evidence of this in repetition of patterns of galaxies, so if it is it's bigger than the visible universe. It could also be infinite (yes, an infinite universe can expand) and unbounded. It could also be perfectly flat, but that's unlikely (though from measurements we know it's very close to flat).
But we may never know since as onetwo_threefour points out we're limited to how much of the universe we can see, forever.
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The big bang created an outwardly expanding bubble, a universe. So I actually agree with your North Pole analogy when we are talking about this particular universe.
However, if you were standing at the North Pole and looked straight up, you would realize there IS another direction to go.
I asked what lies beyond the universe which would be the same as asking what is above the North Pole.
We know about this Big Bang and this universe. Are there other Big Bangs and other universes? What is our universe expanding into? If it's nothingness, then how far does nothingness extend or do we eventually hit something or find something?
Are there other universes and other big bangs, not in other dimensions, but in this one?
What lies beyond our expanding universe?
Cowperson