Is there an agreed upon universe expansion rate?

[flobadob]

I was reading an article recently which was talking about a telescope that will be ready in 2014 which they reckon will be able to see back to when the big bang started. It got me wondering. Firstly, is the point of the initial big bang still sitting at the same position where/when it occured and do we know where that point is? Secondly, is there an accepted rate for the expansion of the universe, for example, the speed of light?

[Azalian]

Most astronomers and cosmologists agree that the rate of expansion is between 50 and 100 kilometres per
megaparsec, this is "The Hubble Constant"

The time since the Big Bang is about 13.7 billion years.

This means that objects that are further away are moving away faster than closer objects, at least over long distances, I'm talking hundreds or thousands of light years.

[Clanad]

While not disagreeing with Azalian's astute answer, I would illumimnate it (pun only slightly intended) by stating the agreement between astronomers is a great deal more churning and heated that Azalian suggests. Problem is accurate measurement on the scales observed. In fact, Edwin Hubble badly misjudged his initial measuremen tof the "Constant" based simply on inadequate data from the Observatories of his time (he died in 1953). The hope is advancing our reach will verify the values of the Constant....
As to your question; an understanding of the Big Bang event suggests that it did not, as many believe, resemble something shot from the end of a rifle nor did it include any kind of an explosion as we classically understand startling creation events. It did, however (apparently) proceed from somewhere near Planck Time (since we can only interpolate back beyond that measurement) by means of an expansion beyond our imagination known as inflation, where the existing proto-universe expanded or inflated at several times the speed of light from the estimated size of the palm of your hand to the size of at least our Galaxy, before any slowing began... So, the "original" site of the Big Bang really didn't exist as a specific, and the rate of the Hubble Constant today is quite a bit slower than C (the speed of light... By the way, another way of describing the Hubble Constant is that it is approximately equal to 0.007% per million years -- meaning that every million years, all the distances in the universe stretch by 0.007%...

[mibn2cweus]

Firstly, every point in our universe originated from the point of the big bang and so we are part of and surrounded by it as it has unfolded to its present form. The universe as we now observe it is the big bang as it has evolved to its current state.

Secondly only a fraction of the universe in which we live can be directly observed with current or imaginably conceivable technologies since by our best reckoning most of the universe has expanded beyond the distance light can travel since the earliest observable evidence of the original event. What we can see is the portion of the radiation now arriving here that was emitted when the universe first became transparent enough for light to travel freely without being reabsorbed by the densely packed particles that coalesced when the universe finally expanded enough to cool to temperatures where stable particles could form and be maintained.

Good morning, starshine

[flobadob]

Thanks mib, that all looks really interesting and I'm gonna take my time looking through it. Still I would live for someone to try and explain in lay terms what was there before the Big Bang because at the end of the day, something must have been there to cause it, what? And so on and so forth.

[mibn2cweus]

Time and space are inexorably linked to each other and to the universe in which they exist and of which they are a part. Without space what could be and before time what could happen? Space/time and the universe are interdependent properties and products of the "Big Bang".

I imagine when the time comes that we fully understand the nature of our universe all will become clear. Until then, if ever, I have learned to take satisfaction in enjoying the privilege to simply learn more . . .

Having beings within it that can ask and answer questions is what makes the universe wonderful.