Universe, space, planets, stars. Is there a limit to our reality?
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Planets, stars, galaxies, clusters, space. The universe as we know it is made up of many different things, much of which we may never be able to understand or even see. But is there a limit to our reality? How far does the universe go? Does it even have an end? And if so, could anything exist outside of that?
As we're about to find out, the answer to this question isn't straightforward at all, but let's give it our best shot in our video which seeks to answer, what lies beyond the edge of the universe.
Imagine if you were to somehow reach the very edge of the known universe. That's an epic journey of immense proportions for a start, but if you could somehow survive the trip, what would you see? Darkness? Light? Or something else?
One recently developed idea seeks to take us back to the beginning of the universe itself to find an answer. The theory, proposed by Dr Julian Barbour, Dr Tim Koslowski and Dr Flavio Mercati claims that when the big bang created our universe, we were not an only child. Our universe has a twin, and a rather bizarre one at that.
When scientists are attempting to find black holes they don't do so by looking for them directly, as since they emit no light this would be impossible. Instead, they detect them by observing their effects on surrounding objects such as planets and stars. Black holes are so incredibly powerful that they cause hugely noticeable effects on the light we receive from stars light years away, and the reason this is relevant is because we can also use this method to examine the edges of our own universe.
Let's scale back from these grandiose theories and explore a theory that's based on things we know for certain, the things we've seen and measured - i.e. the size of the observable universe. We could start this entry by throwing a huge number at you, but that wouldn't mean much without context. So let's build up nice and gently. Humans, you are on average 1.6 to 1.7 metres tall. Your typical tree is around ten times that, and the tallest tree in the world is the redwood at over 100 metres high. The tallest man-made object on Earth is the Burj Khalifa at 828 metres, and currently under construction is Saudi Arabia's Jeddah Tower, with this building set to be the world's first to go beyond a kilometre in height. But that's nothing compared to Mount Everest, which reaches 8.8 kilometres at its peak.