From armel@Cosmology.Berkeley.EDU Tue May 14 10:03:34 2002 Date: Mon, 13 May 2002 18:10:16 -0700 (PDT) From: M. Scott Armel To: Al Gomez Cc: M. Scott Armel Subject: Re: Universe Expansion On Mon, 13 May 2002, Al Gomez wrote: > Mr. Armel: > So, let's say the Milky Way galaxy is sitting on the edge of the universe > and we are trying to look across the universe as far as we are capable of, > when in reality, all we would have to do is turn around in the opposite > direction and see that our closest galaxy (Andromeda) is actually at the > other end of the universe? Well, there is no real "edge" of the universe. An important principle is that no point in the universe has a unique place. Just like on the surface of a perfectly round balloon, no one point is distinguished geometrically from any other. But, yes, we could in principle receive light from an object by looking in the opposite direction, but that light would be almost infinitely dimished in brightness and would be delayed almost infinitely long by its travel across the universe and back... Regards, Scott Funkhouser