• Question: How long will it take to get one side of the observable universe to the other?

    Asked by anon-193409 to Morwenna, Jamal, iainstaniland, Heidi, Emma, Carl on 13 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Emma Crawford

      Emma Crawford answered on 13 Nov 2018:

      Found this online as I didn’t know: In order for a beam of light to cross the entire known universe, it would take somewhere between 30-36 billion years. However, in that time, the universe will have continued to expand faster than the light is moving, so the light will never reach its destination!

    • Photo: Heidi Gardner

      Heidi Gardner answered on 13 Nov 2018:

      Interesting question! The universe is expanding at a speed much higher faster than the speed that humans can move, so you would never be able to get from one side to the other. The other side is moving away from you faster than you are moving towards it – maybe science could come up with a way to solve this one day 🙂

    • Photo: Iain Staniland

      Iain Staniland answered on 15 Nov 2018:

      I tried putting this into google maps but apparently the edges of the observable universe are not on the system.
      Given the issues that Emma and Heidi have mentioned with the universe expanding faster than the speed of light it might be better to wait and see if the universe starts contracting (as some think it might eventually do) as eventually you would be able to touch both sides (not that you would be alive to do it)

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