How can the universe be wider than its age?

This can happen in strong gravitational potentials, or in, say, an expanding universe. So yes, objects in the Universe can travel faster than c away from us due to the expansion of the Universe, and the Universe itself can be much larger than expected given its age and the speed of light.

How do we know the universe is billions of years old?

We do not know the exact age of the universe, but we believe that it is around 13 billion years – give or take a few billion. Astronomers estimate the age of the universe in two ways: (a) by looking for the oldest stars; and (b) by measuring the rate of expansion of the universe and extrapolating back to the Big Bang.

How do we know there is no edge universe?

As far as we can tell, there is no edge to the universe. The flatness of the universe means that the geometry of spacetime is not curved or warped on the cosmic scale. This means that the universe does not wrap around and connect to itself like the surface of a sphere, which would lead to a finite universe.

What is the diameter of universe?

93 billion light-years
The radius of the observable universe is therefore estimated to be about 46.5 billion light-years and its diameter about 28.5 gigaparsecs (93 billion light-years, or 8.8×1026 metres or 2.89×1027 feet), which equals 880 yottametres.

Why is the diameter of the universe 93 billion light years?

Today, those distant objects are a bit more than 46 billion light years away. Multiply times 2, and you get 93 billion light years, the diameter of the observable universe.

How big is the universe currently?

approximately 93 billion light-years
While the spatial size of the entire universe is unknown, the cosmic inflation equation indicates that it must have a minimum diameter of 23 trillion light years, and it is possible to measure the size of the observable universe, which is approximately 93 billion light-years in diameter at the present day.

How big is the universe?

Though the universe is only 13.8 billion years old, it is also 93 billion light-years wide, which confuses some because nothing is supposed to be able to travel faster than the speed of light.

How far back in space can we see the universe?

Therefore, the longer we wait, the farther we can see, as light travels in a straight line at the speed of light. So after 13.8 billion years, you’d expect to be able to see back almost 13.8 billion light years, subtracting only how long it took stars and galaxies to form after the Big Bang.

How old is the universe?

You might think, in a Universe limited by the speed of light, that would be 13.8 billion light years: the age of the Universe multiplied by the speed of light. But 13.8 billion light years is far too small to be the right answer.

How far can we observe galaxies in the universe?

In a non-expanding Universe, as we covered earlier, the maximum distance we can observe is twice the age of the Universe in light years: 27.6 billion light years. But in the Universe we have today, we’ve already observed galaxies more distant than that!