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Originally Posted by C1ay
So you are saying that conclusions from WMAP suggesting the universe to be 156 billion light-years wide are incorrect? Do you also disagree with claims that the universe has a finite quantity of matter? |
I'm saying what the concensus among most cosmologists seems to be. I did read the 156Gy diameter article in SciAm a year ago and found it very interesting. But cosmologists need to then decide if they want to use this figure or the 13.7Gy figure that is most often quoted.
In either case, it doesn't matter. If you are going to say that the universe is finite, then you must be able to say what it is expanding into. But by definition, the universe is all that there is. It may be that what is beyond the observable universe is very different than what we see (though unlikely if you use the bb model). But in both cases it is believed, as I understand it, that the universe is still believed to be infinite in size in the sense that it wraps back around on itself and if you travel in a straight direction you will end up back where you began (after a very long voyage). If you do so, you may aquire 156Gy (plus added expansion) on your odometer, but according to bb theory you will not encounter an 'edge' of the universe as you do. And because the universe is expanding, and given the time it will take you to make the hypothetically plausible trip, you will not be able to return to the same "point" and that section of the universe will have likely changed so much in the given time that you will not recognize it. (We can say the Earth is xx,xxx miles around, but you will not find an 'edge' in your travels around the world.)
Let me stress that I am expressing the ideas of bb theorists as I understand them to be. This does not mean that my own theory agrees with them. It does, however, support the evidence they site and explains many of the events that the bb theory does not.
