How to understand the size of the universe. Dimensions and boundaries of the universe

Each of us at least once thought about what a huge world we live in. Our planet is an insane number of cities, villages, roads, forests, rivers. Most in their lives do not have time to see even half. It is difficult to imagine the grandiose scale of the planet, but the task is even more difficult. The dimensions of the Universe are, perhaps, beyond the power of imagining even the most developed mind. Let's try to figure out what modern science thinks about this.

Basic concept

The universe is everything that surrounds us, about which we know and guess, what was, is and will be. If we reduce the intensity of romanticism, then this concept defines everything that exists physically in science, taking into account the temporal aspect and the laws governing the functioning, the interconnection of all elements, and so on.

Naturally, it is rather difficult to imagine the real dimensions of the Universe. In science, this issue is widely discussed and there is no consensus yet. In their assumptions, astronomers rely on existing theories of the formation of the world as we know it, as well as on the data obtained as a result of observation.

Metagalaxy

Various hypotheses define the universe as a dimensionless or unspeakably vast space, much of which we know little about. To clarify and discuss the area available for study, the concept of Metagalaxy was introduced. This term refers to the part of the Universe that is accessible for observation by astronomical methods. Thanks to the improvement of technology and knowledge, it is constantly increasing. The metagalaxy is part of the so-called observable Universe - a space in which matter has managed to reach its present position during the period of its existence. When it comes to understanding what the dimensions of the Universe are, in most cases they talk about the Metagalaxy. The modern level of technology development makes it possible to observe objects located at a distance of up to 15 billion light years from the Earth. Time in the determination of this parameter, as you can see, plays no less a role than space.

Age and size

According to some models of the Universe, it never appeared, but exists forever. However, the dominant theory of the Big Bang today sets our world a "starting point". According to astronomers, the age of the universe is about 13.7 billion years. If you go back in time, you can return to the Big Bang. Regardless of whether the dimensions of the Universe are infinite, the observed part of it has boundaries, since the speed of light is finite. It includes all those locations that can affect the Earth observer since the Big Bang. The size of the observable universe is increasing due to its constant expansion. According to the latest estimates, it covers a space of 93 billion light years.

A bunch of

Let's see what the universe is. The dimensions of outer space, expressed in dry numbers, of course, are amazing, but difficult to understand. For many, it will be easier to understand the scale of the surrounding world if they find out how many systems similar to the Solar one fit in it.

Our star and the planets surrounding it are only a tiny fraction of the Milky Way. According to astronomers, the galaxy has approximately 100 billion stars. Some of them have already discovered exoplanets. It is not only the size of the Universe that is striking - already the space occupied by its insignificant part, the Milky Way, inspires respect. It takes light a hundred thousand years to traverse our galaxy!

Local group

Extragalactic astronomy, which began to develop after the discoveries of Edwin Hubble, describes many structures similar to the Milky Way. Its closest neighbors are the Andromeda Nebula and the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. Together with several other "satellites", they make up the local group of galaxies. It is separated from a nearby similar formation by about 3 million light years. It’s even scary to imagine how long it would take a modern plane to cover such a distance!

Observed

All local groups are separated by vast spaces. The Metagalaxy includes several billion structures similar to the Milky Way. The size of the universe is truly amazing. It takes a light beam 2 million years to travel from the Milky Way to the Andromeda Nebula.

The farther from us a piece of space is located, the less we know about its current state. Due to the finiteness of the speed of light, scientists can only obtain information about the past of such objects. For the same reasons, as already mentioned, the area of ​​the Universe available for astronomical research is limited.

Other worlds

However, this is not all the amazing information that characterizes the Universe. The dimensions of outer space, apparently, significantly exceed the Metagalaxy and the observable part. The theory of inflation introduces such a concept as the multiverse. It consists of many worlds, probably formed at the same time, do not intersect with each other and develop independently. The current level of development of technology does not give hope for the knowledge of such neighboring Universes. One of the reasons is the same finiteness of the speed of light.

The rapid development of space science is changing our understanding of how big the universe is. The current state of astronomy, its constituent theories and calculations of scientists are difficult for an uninitiated person to understand. However, even a superficial study of the issue shows how huge the world of which we are a part, and how little we still know about it.

In cosmology, there is still no clear answer to the question that affects the age, shape and size of the Universe, and there is also no consensus about its finiteness. Because if the universe is finite, then it must either contract or expand. In the event that it is infinite, many assumptions lose their meaning.

Back in 1744, astronomer J.F. Shezo was the first to doubt that the universe

It is infinite: if the number of stars has no boundaries, then why does the sky not sparkle and why is it dark? In 1823, G. Albes argued the existence of the boundaries of the Universe by the fact that the light coming to the Earth from distant stars should become weaker due to absorption by matter that is on their way. But in this case, this substance itself should heat up and glow no worse than any star. found its confirmation in modern science, which claims that the vacuum is "nothing", but at the same time it has real physical properties. Of course, absorption by a vacuum leads to an increase in its temperature, which results in the fact that the vacuum becomes a secondary source of radiation. Therefore, in the event that the dimensions of the Universe are really infinite, then the light of stars that have reached the limiting distance has such a strong redshift that it begins to merge with the background (secondary) radiation of the vacuum.

At the same time, we can say that what is observed by humanity are finite, since the Distance itself is finite at 24 Gigaparsex, which is the boundary of the light cosmic horizon. However, due to the fact that it is increasing, the end of the universe is at a distance of 93 billion

The most important result of cosmology was the fact that the universe was expanding. It was derived from redshift observations and then quantified according to Hubble's law. This led scientists to conclude that the Big Bang theory is being confirmed. According to NASA,

which were obtained with the help of WMAP, starting from the time of the Big Bang, equals 13.7 billion years. However, this result is possible only if it is assumed that the model underlying the analysis is correct. When using other estimation methods, completely different data are obtained.

Touching upon the structure of the Universe, one cannot but say about its form. So far, no three-dimensional figure has been found that would best represent its image. This complexity is due to the fact that it is still not known exactly whether the Universe is flat. The second aspect is connected with the fact that it is not known for certain about its multiple connections. Accordingly, if the dimensions of the Universe are spatially limited, then when moving in a straight line and in any direction, you can find yourself at the starting point.

As we can see, technological progress has not yet reached the level to accurately answer questions regarding the age, structure and size of the Universe. Until now, many theories in cosmology have not been confirmed, but have not been refuted either.

The dimensions of the Universe are inconceivably large for us. Everything that surrounds us, and we ourselves, are just grains of this all-encompassing concept. And it itself has not so much astronomical as philosophical subtext.

The philosophical part of the universe includes the entire material world existing in nature, which has no boundaries in time and space. It is represented by various forms and states that matter takes as a result of its development.

The astronomical part of the universe, scientists consider everything that exists: space, matter, time, energy. It also includes planets, stars, and all other possible cosmic bodies. Scientists can only partially comprehend the size of the Universe. And researchers cannot find an exact and capacious definition for it. Perhaps it is equivalent to God or other manifestations of the Supreme Reason.

The scale of the universe

In order to get even a little closer to the answer to the question, what are the dimensions of the Universe, it is necessary to estimate the scales of its individual parts. For a person to circumnavigate the globe is a difficult task, but quite doable. Now imagine that our planet is compared to Saturn, like a coin compared to a basketball. And in relation to the Sun, the Earth generally looks like a small grain.

The entire solar system also does not have a significant extent on the scale of the universe. If we consider the limit of the system, its length is about 120 astronomical units. In this case, for one au. take a distance equal to ~ 150 billion km. Now imagine that the diameter of the entire Milky Way galaxy, of which the Sun and the surrounding planets are a part, is equal to 1 quintillion kilometers. It's a number with 18 zeros. And the very cluster of different celestial bodies contains, according to various estimates, from 2 * 10 11 to 4 * 10 11 stars, most of which are larger than our celestial body.

And the Milky Way is not the only galaxy in all of outer space. In the starry sky of the Earth, with the naked eye, you can see the neighboring star clusters: Andromeda, Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. Distances to them are measured in megaparsecs - in millions of light years. And each of them also stretches over distances unthinkable for the human mind.

All clusters of stars are grouped into large-scale associations - groups of galaxies. For example, the Milky Way and neighboring formations are part of the Local Group with a diameter of about 1 megaparsec. Imagine, in order for a ray of light to pass it from one end to the other, it will take 3.2 million years.

But this value is not the largest either. Groups of galaxies, in turn, are combined into superclusters or superclusters. These large-scale universe structures contain hundreds and thousands of galactic groups and millions of star formations. So, in the Virgo Supercluster, which includes the Milky Way, there are more than 100 groups of galaxies. The length of this structure is more than 200 million light years and this is only part of the giant Laniakeya formation.

Laniakei's center of gravity is the Great Attractor supercluster, which attracts all other structures of this part of outer space. It can be safely called the center of the Universe, with the proviso that it is only the core of the cosmos we have known. All Laniakeya has a diameter of more than 500 million light years. And, in order to finally realize the scale of the Universe, imagine that this gigantic formation is just that small part of the cosmos that man could survey and imagine.

The visible universe and its dimensions

The Visible or Observable Universe is a very complex concept. According to the theory of the Soviet geophysicist Fridman, all outer space is now in the stage of expansion. In this case, all of its elements move away from each other at superluminal speed. Relative to the Earth, the visible part of the universal space is that region of boundless space, from where radiation can come to us. At the same time, the object itself, emitting a signal, could already acquire a superluminal velocity of distance from our galaxy, but we still register radiation from it.

What is the size of the Visible Universe? The boundary of the observable part of space is the cosmological horizon. All universal structures outside this region emit radiation that does not reach the solar system. However, the exact size of the visible part of the Universe is very difficult to establish due to its constantly accelerating expansion.

If we take our stellar system as the center of the observable part of the cosmos, and the surface of the last scattering of the relic radiation as the cosmological horizon, then this entire sphere in diameter will be 93 billion light years. Its component structure is the Metagalaxy - a region of outer space accessible for study with modern astronomical instruments. The metagalaxy is homogeneous and isotropic, and researchers are still arguing whether it is the entire Universe or just its small particle. Its length is constantly changing due to the improvement of technologies used by astronomers.

What is space and what are its dimensions

Talking about the size of the Universe, one cannot fail to mention the concept of "space". This term is understood as a part of the universal space, filled with emptiness, lying outside the atmospheres and shells of celestial bodies. Space is not empty or hollow. It is filled with interstellar matter composed of molecules of hydrogen, oxygen, and ionizing and electromagnetic radiation. In addition, there is dark matter, which scientists have been arguing about for several centuries. Many of them hypothesize that this latent mass is the connecting link of outer space.

Modern astronomers, taking our planet as a reference point, distinguish between:

• Near space. For humans, it begins at an altitude of about 19 kilometers. This is the Armstrong line, where water boils at the temperature of the human body. A person who is at this height without a spacesuit begins to boil saliva and tears. An altitude of only 100 kilometers is considered an international official border, after which outer space begins.
• Near-earth space - is considered as such up to an altitude of about 260 thousand kilometers. This is the height to which the Earth's gravity exceeds that of the Sun. In the range of these heights, our cosmonauts make orbital flights and various satellites fly.
• Interplanetary region. At these heights, or rather, at distances from the Earth, it makes its flight around our planet. Only robotic space stations and NASA astronauts flew these distances when landing on the moon in 1970.
• Interstellar space - the distance from the Earth is measured already in billions of kilometers.
• Intergalactic space, where the distance is about 5 quintillion kilometers. All this is negligible considering the size of the universe.

How big is the world?

After all you've read, it's worth thinking about how huge the world we live in is. Humans are just microbes compared to, let alone galaxies and space. At the same time, the size of the Universe is inconceivable. And it is unlikely that we will ever be able to know him.

The diameter of the Moon is 3000 km, the Earth is 12800 km, the Sun is 1.4 million kilometers, while the distance from the Sun to the Earth is 150 million km. The diameter of Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, is 150,000 km. No wonder they say that Jupiter could be a star, in the video next to Jupiter is located working star, its size () is even smaller than Jupiter. By the way, since you touched Jupiter, you may not have heard, but Jupiter does not revolve around the Sun. The fact is that the mass of Jupiter is so great that the center of rotation of Jupiter and the Sun is outside the Sun, thus both the Sun and Jupiter revolve together around a common center of rotation.

Dimensions of the universe

According to some calculations, there are 400 billion stars in our galaxy, which is called the Milky Way. This is far from the largest galaxy; there are more than a trillion stars in neighboring Andromeda.

As indicated in the video at 4:35, our Milky Way will collide with Andromeda in a few billion years. According to some calculations, using any technologies we know, even improved ones in the future, we will not be able to reach other galaxies, since they are constantly moving away from us. Only teleportation can help us. This is bad news.

The good news is that you and I were born at a good time when scientists see other galaxies and can theorize about the Big Bang and other phenomena. If we were born much later, when all galaxies scattered far from each other, then most likely we would not be able to find out how the universe arose, whether there were other galaxies, whether there was a Big Bang, etc. We would consider that our Milky Way (united by that time with Andromeda) is the only and unique in the whole space. But we are lucky and we know something. Maybe.

Let's go back to the numbers. Our small Milky Way contains up to 400 billion stars, neighboring Andromeda is more than a trillion, and there are more than 100 billion such galaxies in the observable universe. And many of them contain several trillion stars. It may seem incredible that there are so many stars in space, but somehow the Americans took and pointed their mighty Hubble telescope at a completely empty space in our sky. After observing him for several days, they got this picture:

In a completely empty area of ​​our sky, they found 10 thousand galaxies (not stars), each of which contains billions and trillions of stars. This square is in our sky, for scale.

And what is happening outside the observable universe, we do not know. The dimensions of the universe that we see is about 91.5 billion light years. What's next is unknown. Perhaps our entire universe is just a bubble in the seething ocean of the multiverse. In which there may even be other laws of physics at work, for example, Archimedes' law does not work and the sum of the angles is not equal to 360 degrees.

Enjoy. Dimensions of the universe in the video:

Instructions

“An abyss has opened, full of stars; there are no numbers of stars, the bottom of the abyss, ”wrote the genius Russian scientist Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov in one of his poems. This is a poetic statement of the infinity of the universe.

The age of the "existence" of the observable Universe is about 13.7 billion Earth years. The light that comes from distant galaxies "from the edge of the world" has been traveling to Earth for more than 14 billion years. It turns out that the diametrical dimensions of the Universe can be calculated if approximately 13.7 times two, that is, 27.4 billion light years. The spherical model has a radial size of approximately 78 billion light years and a diameter of 156 billion light years. This is one of the latest versions of American scientists, the result of many years of astronomical observations and calculations.

There are 170 billion galaxies like ours in the observable universe. Ours is, as it were, in the center of a giant ball. From the most distant space objects, relic light is visible - fantastically ancient from the point of view of mankind. If you penetrate very deeply into the space-time system, you can see the youth of planet Earth.

There is a finite age limit for luminous space objects observed from Earth. By calculating the age limit, knowing the time it took for light to travel the distance from them to the Earth's surface, and knowing the constant, the speed of light, according to the formula S = Vxt (path = speed multiplied by time) known from school (path = speed multiplied by time), scientists determined the probable the size of the observable universe.

Representing the universe as a three-dimensional ball is not the only way to model the universe. There are hypotheses suggesting that the universe has not three, but an infinite number of dimensions. There are versions that it, like a nesting doll, consists of an infinite number of nested and spaced spherical formations.

There is an assumption that the Universe is inexhaustible according to various criteria and different coordinate axes. People considered the smallest particle of matter to be a "corpuscle", then a "molecule", then an "atom", then "protons and electrons", then they started talking about elementary particles, which turned out to be not at all elementary, about quanta, neutrinos and quarks ... And no one will give a guarantee that the next Universe is not located inside the next supermicro-particle of matter. And vice versa - that the visible Universe is not only a microparticle of the matter of the Super-Mega-Universe, the size of which no one can even imagine and calculate, they are so large.