• Question: How is it possible that space can go on forever (if it does); doesn't it have to end at some point?

    Asked by cancer to Nick, Alan on 12 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by alpacasmurf.
    • Photo: Alan Fitzsimmons

      Alan Fitzsimmons answered on 12 Mar 2014:

      Nope, that’s the strange thing about infinity, it ever ends. As far as we know the Universe is infinite.

    • Photo: Nick Wright

      Nick Wright answered on 13 Mar 2014:

      Good question, and one that I don’t think we know the answer to yet! Some scientists think that space doesn’t go on forever and that the Universe in some way has an edge, and some people think it goes on forever, which is mind-boggling.

      Some other people, including myself, think that it doesn’t go on forever, but that it doesn’t have an edge either. We think that space sort of wraps round on itself, kind of like the surface of a balloon. So if you started going in one direction you’d never run out of space, but you’d never reach the edge of space either, you’d just eventually come back to where you started! Its a bit weird to get your head around, but it offers quite a nice explanation of how we think space works.

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