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Because we can only see a certain distance, we can only speak of what we observe within this 27-billion light-year sphere we call the Universe.
As far as speculation, there is no real reason to conceive of there being a discernible end to what lays beyond. If such an end were ever encountered, the question would arise, "What is beyond this barrier? Nothing?" What would constitute nothing? Certainly not empty space, for that would be something.
And we haven't even touched upon the very real possibility that dimensions higher than our own envelop our universe, demanding an even larger universe. There is just no reason why Nature can't have all the space it may occupy. And it's actually easier to consider that the Universe does go on forever and infinitely. Just because it blows our little minds doesn't mean it shouldn't happen.
As far as speculation, there is no real reason to conceive of there being a discernible end to what lays beyond. If such an end were ever encountered, the question would arise, "What is beyond this barrier? Nothing?" What would constitute nothing? Certainly not empty space, for that would be something.
And we haven't even touched upon the very real possibility that dimensions higher than our own envelop our universe, demanding an even larger universe. There is just no reason why Nature can't have all the space it may occupy. And it's actually easier to consider that the Universe does go on forever and infinitely. Just because it blows our little minds doesn't mean it shouldn't happen.
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Space is infinite but our viewpoint is finite meaning what we see is based upon our relative location and time. The furthest we can see out are objects such as quasars which are just the birth of galaxies billions of years ago - time and the speed of light influence our perception of space.
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The Universe is constantly expanding from a single extremely dense and hot core.
Heat allows things to expand and so that core is what allows the universe to constantly expand.
That's only the Big Bang theory though. It's still just a theory. We can't even prove it, it is just the most popular of many explanations to what we can observe.
You could make up any explanation you want that might fit the mystery. Try this on...what if light only travels so far, like a candle in a small corner of a really big storage room. If that were true, than just because we can't see the edge of the "visible" universe, doesn't mean the darkness won't expand out past the supposed 14 billion light year diameter. For all we know our universe could be equivalent to a small garbage pile on a ocean sized universe. If we knew where the end was, we might want to think who is on the other side.
Heat allows things to expand and so that core is what allows the universe to constantly expand.
That's only the Big Bang theory though. It's still just a theory. We can't even prove it, it is just the most popular of many explanations to what we can observe.
You could make up any explanation you want that might fit the mystery. Try this on...what if light only travels so far, like a candle in a small corner of a really big storage room. If that were true, than just because we can't see the edge of the "visible" universe, doesn't mean the darkness won't expand out past the supposed 14 billion light year diameter. For all we know our universe could be equivalent to a small garbage pile on a ocean sized universe. If we knew where the end was, we might want to think who is on the other side.