The Infinite Universe

[perrymiller821]

Is there a theory which allows for an infinite universe? Scientists say that it took 13.8 billion years for light to travel from the edges of the known Universe to get here. I call everything into question. If the big bang occured, I assume the matter of galaxies did not travel the speed of light. How much time would it take for a Universe this size to form? Then we have the expanding Universe which complicates matters even more.

 

“But over the last 13.8 billion years, the Universe has been continually expanding – and at first it did so very rapidly. Taking that into account, astronomers have worked out that the galaxies right on the edge of the observable Universe, whose light has taken 13.8 billion years to reach us, must now be 46.5 billion light years away.That is our best measurement for the radius of the observable Universe. Doubling it, of course, gives the diameter: 93 billion light years. And where things get really complex is when we try to think about the Universe beyond that which is observable. The "whole" Universe, as it were. Depending on which theory of the shape of the Universe you prefer, the whole Universe could actually be finite or infinite.”

 

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160610-it-took-centuries-but-we-now-know-the-size-of-the-universe

 

The farther we are able to look into space, the more galaxies we are able to see. Just as an example, If we were to develop a technology that allowed us to look a trillion times farther into space, would we still see galaxies?

 

Here is my ultimate question. Assuming that matter moves slower than the speed of light, at what size Universe does the age of the Universe approach infinity? How could it be possible for a physical construct to exist forever? What theory could be used to explain that? As the age of the Universe approaches infinity, would the chance of the Universe having a beginning approach zero?

[Jsbrads]

Matter moves away from us faster than light, but it doesn’t break the speed limit because it is the space in between us and the matter that is expanding, not the matter traveling.

Regardless how big the universe is, it is still finite as a finite quantity of energy went into making it. Had the universe been infinite it could not have expanded due to gravity. 

As to the shape, some sort of hyper spherical shell makes the most sense. A spherical shell is what the surface of our planet looks like. A hyper spherical shell would allow travel in any direction in 3D, but would eventually wrap back on itself. Much like when you travel far enough north you start to go south and then north again until you reach the same point, when you look far enough into space you might be staring at the back of you own head, just billions of years ago.