this post was submitted on 28 Feb 2025
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[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Is the radial scale logarithmic? Or is it even more compressed than that?

[–] Clinicallydepressedpoochie@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 children)

First thing I will point out is there is no known shape of the universe.

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 10 points 2 months ago (2 children)

If we assume the hubble constant is the same in all directions, the farthest we'd be able to see would be a sphere, dictated by the time light has had to travel to us.

[–] Grimpen@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

That's what I'm assuming the original diagram is showing, the "Observable Universe" in some sort of radically increasing scale.

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 months ago

It'd be interesting to see what a log scale would look like for this. I'll see if I can find one.

Here's one.

Log scale diagram of the observable universe https://pablocarlosbudassi.com/2021/02/atlas-of-universe-is-linear-version-of_15.html

Looks like the image at the top is a bit condensed comparatively.

[–] Clinicallydepressedpoochie@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

I'll admit, I'm not deep in astronomy but thats inherently misguided. In a 3d space, observing from a fixed point, all areas that extend past how far we can observe would not be the shape of the universe but just our range of "vision."

[–] Tinidril@midwest.social 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Thus the term "observable universe". Everything beyond our observable universe is being expanded away from us at faster than the speed of light, so nothing outside will ever reach us. Causality is completely and irrevocably severed at those distances so, arguably, anything outside the observable universe is not part of "our" universe.

[–] Clinicallydepressedpoochie@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

My point is, it doesn't reveal anything about the nature of the universe only about the limited view we can observe. As far as form goes the form of a sphere is meaningless because it is true of anything in a 3d space that is looking out from a fixed point.

[–] Tinidril@midwest.social 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

As I just explained, it's not really about observation, it's about causation. If two objects can never possibly interact, then are they really in the same universe?

Looking out in space is also looking back in time. Anything (roughly) that is further than we can observe in the microwave background would be further back in time than the beginning of time, and therefore doesn't exist at all in our universe. It's a bit brain bending.

[–] Clinicallydepressedpoochie@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

I would say yes they are part of the same universe because if you changed your position it would reveal things you didn't see before and mask thing you use to see. Not that that is possible yet, but there are no laws of physics preventing it, only our super short life spans.

[–] Tinidril@midwest.social 2 points 2 months ago (2 children)

That's just it. The laws of physics, at least as far as we understand them, absolutely preclude changing our position in any way that would reveal anything outside our observable universe. Lifespans don't come into it at all. If you lived forever traveling at the speed of light, you would never achieve that change of position.

The cosmic background is the leftover "noise" of the big bang, and we observe it roughly uniformly in every single direction. So where did the big bang occur? Everywhere. Everything that exists is precisely at the center of the universe, right where the big bang happened.

It's all about the concept of spacetime. Spacetime isn't space and time considered together, it's a singular thing that operates by rules that we are ill equiped to comprehend intuitively.

[–] iriyan@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 months ago

flat earth on a flat universe, MUFA make-the-universe-flat-again

[–] Clinicallydepressedpoochie@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

The laws of physics, at least as far as we understand them, absolutely preclude changing our position in any way that would reveal anything outside our observable universe

I do not agree. I don't believe the laws of physics are the limiting factor.

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The edge of the observable universe is moving away from us faster than the speed of light from our perspective. (Due to space stretching) So we'd need to go faster than the speed of light to catch up.

[–] Clinicallydepressedpoochie@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

You could also use a wormhole to travel to different universes. It 'breaks' the speed of light, so all bets are off.

[–] jabathekek@sopuli.xyz 4 points 2 months ago

obviously the eye of our universe is flat

[–] ewigkaiwelo@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Is saddle still the best candidate? Like when you move a circle across a circle you get a torus, and when you move a parabola across parabola you get a "saddle"

[–] MelodiousFunk@slrpnk.net 4 points 2 months ago

I want a toroidal universe. Just so it can be eaten by an extracosmic Homer Simpson.

[–] philipp_@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 2 months ago

It's not really to scale at all. Look at the distance between earth and the moon in relation to the other planets.