Universe [Probably] 250+ Times Bigger Than What Is Observable

[Telarus]

http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/02/01/2015250/Universe-250-Times-Bigger-Than-What-Is-Observable

eldavojohn writes

"The universe is only fourteen billion years old so we are unable to observe anything more than fourteen billion light years away. This makes it a bit difficult for us to measure how large the universe actually is. A number of methodologies have been devised to estimate the size of the universe including the universe's curvature, baryonic acoustic oscillations and the luminosity of distant type 1A supernovas. Now a team has combined all known methods into Bayesian model averaging to constrain the universe's size and their research is saying with confidence that the universe is at least 250 times larger than the observable universe."

[Nephew Twiddleton]

http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/02/01/2015250/Universe-250-Times-Bigger-Than-What-Is-Observable

eldavojohn writes

"The universe is only fourteen billion years old so we are unable to observe anything more than fourteen billion light years away. This makes it a bit difficult for us to measure how large the universe actually is. A number of methodologies have been devised to estimate the size of the universe including the universe's curvature, baryonic acoustic oscillations and the luminosity of distant type 1A supernovas. Now a team has combined all known methods into Bayesian model averaging to constrain the universe's size and their research is saying with confidence that the universe is at least 250 times larger than the observable universe."

22.5 trillion light years.... damn.

Edit for math fail.

[Kurt Christ]

IF you read the link with more info, it says that 250 times may be conservative, and that it seems possible/likely that the universe continues infinitely in all directions (curvature of the universe seems to be 0, which is not consistent with models of a closed, finite universe).

[Cramulus]

it's a little mind blowing to think that the big bang may only have been a very very small part of what's going on in the universe.

[Adios]

Tin foil time, but I never did believe we live in a finite universe.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Tin foil time, but I never did believe we live in a finite universe.

I always liked the idea of infinite amount of matter in an infinite amount of space. It's just that there's more infinite space than infinite matter, if that makes sense.

[Adios]

Astronomers have identified some 54 new planets where conditions may be suitable for life.

Five of the candidates are Earth-sized.

The announcement from the Kepler space telescope team brings the total number of exoplanet candidates they have identified to more than 1,200.

The data release also confirmed a unique sextet of planets around a single star and 170 further solar systems that include more than one planet circling far-flung stars.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12354390

We probably aren't alone either.

[Sister Fracture]

Astronomers have identified some 54 new planets where conditions may be suitable for life.

Five of the candidates are Earth-sized.

The announcement from the Kepler space telescope team brings the total number of exoplanet candidates they have identified to more than 1,200.

The data release also confirmed a unique sextet of planets around a single star and 170 further solar systems that include more than one planet circling far-flung stars.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12354390

We probably aren't alone either.

This is awesome.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Keplar 11 is an interesting one. If it has an Earthlike planet in the habitable zone (none indicated so far, as far as I can tell), its age has given plenty of time for intelligent life to evolve. Too bad it's 2000 ly away.

[Adios]

Keplar 11 is an interesting one. If it has an Earthlike planet in the habitable zone (none indicated so far, as far as I can tell), its age has given plenty of time for intelligent life to evolve. Too bad it's 2000 ly away.

Habitable to life and habitable to life as we know it may not be the same thing at all.

[Luna]

Keplar 11 is an interesting one. If it has an Earthlike planet in the habitable zone (none indicated so far, as far as I can tell), its age has given plenty of time for intelligent life to evolve. Too bad it's 2000 ly away.

Habitable to life and habitable to life as we know it may not be the same thing at all.

This.

If we do discover life on another planet and they look like Star Trek aliens (humans with random bumps added to say "different!" I am going to be stunned.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Keplar 11 is an interesting one. If it has an Earthlike planet in the habitable zone (none indicated so far, as far as I can tell), its age has given plenty of time for intelligent life to evolve. Too bad it's 2000 ly away.

Habitable to life and habitable to life as we know it may not be the same thing at all.

True, but as far as I can recall, either liquid water or liquid methane would be needed as a solvent, and water is more versatile. Most of these planets seem to be a lot of hydrogen and helium.

That said, it would be pretty cool to find a silicon based insect that drinks methane.

[LMNO]

That said, it would be pretty cool to find a silicon based insect that drinks methane.

Right before it plunged into your eyesocket and laid eggs in your brain.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

That said, it would be pretty cool to find a silicon based insect that drinks methane.

Right before it plunged into your eyesocket and laid eggs in your brain.

[hooplala]

Tin foil time, but I never did believe we live in a finite universe.

I always liked the idea of infinite amount of matter in an infinite amount of space. It's just that there's more infinite space than infinite matter, if that makes sense.

Would the matter really be infinite?  I can grasp infinite space (I think), but it would seem to me that the matter in the universe must be finite.  Am I mistaken?