The article got me thinking about the universe's mass distribution.
Is the number of galaxies at any edge of our observable universe similar to the number of galaxies in our observable universe?
tl;dr does the (entire) universe have a uniform distribution of mass?
Now, I'm aware that the universe has always been expanding from every point in all directions since the singularity before the big bang. This means that effectively
1.) every point in the universe can make the claim of being "at the center"
2.) none of them can
3.) the question is meaningless
Which of those answers you find satisfying is more of a philosophical question which I'm not concerned with for this question.
My question is this - if we were to somehow reach the edge of our universe instantaneously, simply to observe what things looked like from that point of view, would we find that there's roughly the same distribution of stars/galaxies/matter in all directions?
I'm aware that questions with the premise that FTL/instantaneous travel is possible tend to be "unknowable" to a degree.
Perhaps another way of wording it would be - do we expect the amount of matter to be of a uniform distribution in every spot in the universe? Is it impossible to know? Or can we use models of the big bang theory to predict that the distribution is roughly equal everywhere?
Some philosophical implications that are curious but are probably scientifically meaningless:
If there's reason to believe that there is a uniform distribution of mass in all observable universe, and the universe is infinite, does that imply there are an infinite number of galaxies, all of which are inaccessible if they're outside our observable universe?
If so, is out ever appropriate to consider these infinite observable universes as essentially a multi-verse, containing many combinations of observable universes, one of which is statistically likely to be similar to our own observable universe?
As always with questions regarding the size of the universe, it's center, etc. I suspect the answer will be "it's a meaningless question because we can never know", but I'm hoping that research into the big bang itself could provide some evidence.
Please let me know if I haven't used proper terms or am making a critical mistake in my current understanding of astronomy.
The way I understand it is that there is not really an edge. Spacetime itself is expanding, the best analogy I've heard is consider a spherical balloon that is being inflated. We exist as two dimensional beings on that balloon. No matter where you put two dots on that balloon, they will move further apart.
You could also draw a circle on the surface of that balloon which represents the furthest points that we can reach if we traveled at the speed of light. Nothing outside that circle would be observable to us, so it could be argued that it doesn't exist.
Is the number of galaxies at any edge of our observable universe similar to the number of galaxies in our observable universe?
tl;dr does the (entire) universe have a uniform distribution of mass?
Now, I'm aware that the universe has always been expanding from every point in all directions since the singularity before the big bang. This means that effectively 1.) every point in the universe can make the claim of being "at the center" 2.) none of them can 3.) the question is meaningless
Which of those answers you find satisfying is more of a philosophical question which I'm not concerned with for this question.
My question is this - if we were to somehow reach the edge of our universe instantaneously, simply to observe what things looked like from that point of view, would we find that there's roughly the same distribution of stars/galaxies/matter in all directions?
I'm aware that questions with the premise that FTL/instantaneous travel is possible tend to be "unknowable" to a degree.
Perhaps another way of wording it would be - do we expect the amount of matter to be of a uniform distribution in every spot in the universe? Is it impossible to know? Or can we use models of the big bang theory to predict that the distribution is roughly equal everywhere?
Some philosophical implications that are curious but are probably scientifically meaningless:
If there's reason to believe that there is a uniform distribution of mass in all observable universe, and the universe is infinite, does that imply there are an infinite number of galaxies, all of which are inaccessible if they're outside our observable universe?
If so, is out ever appropriate to consider these infinite observable universes as essentially a multi-verse, containing many combinations of observable universes, one of which is statistically likely to be similar to our own observable universe?
As always with questions regarding the size of the universe, it's center, etc. I suspect the answer will be "it's a meaningless question because we can never know", but I'm hoping that research into the big bang itself could provide some evidence.
Please let me know if I haven't used proper terms or am making a critical mistake in my current understanding of astronomy.