Our “universe” is only part of the universe – all matter and energy, space and time. This is because our view of the universe is limited. We only see a small part of it – a result of the age of the universe, the expansion of the universe and the speed of light.
The fraction we see is known as the observable universe. And from what we see, it’s all the same. Everywhere we look, there is the same mix of galaxies and empty space, of stars and gas clouds. And everything seems to follow the same laws of physics.
But we don’t know what’s going on in the rest of the universe – everything beyond the “cosmic horizon” – the limit of our range of observation.
Logic suggests that everything beyond that horizon is just like everything in the observable universe. There is no reason why the “bubble” of the universe we inhabit should be any different from the universe as a whole. But we just don’t know for sure—and probably never will.
However, scientists can try to draw some conclusions. If they observe a galaxy cluster that is 10 billion light years away, for example, it has its own observable universe. Some of them overlap with ours, but others extend far beyond them. If the cluster was pulled toward the region we can’t see, then scientists could conclude that it was being pulled by the gravity of something big and heavy—perhaps a giant galaxy cluster far beyond the visible universe—something we’ll never see. .
Screenplay by Daymond Benningfield
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