end of the entire outer space...

[answers2424]

if you kept travelling into space at a reallllllllllllly fast speed and say, you lived forever (lol) would you reach 'the end' of some thing or would you eventually loop back round to where you started? what do you think?

[Clanad]

Probably the latter... at least according to our current understanding of the nature of the Universe. Problem is, there's a lot of disagreement on the actual shape of it...

[bernardo]

If you could travel much faster than the speed of light, then yes. Going in a straight line through the universe would be a bit like going in a "straight" line on the surface of the Earth - you would gradually curve round (without the curve being noticeable) and end up back where you started. In reality, the limitation that you can't go faster than light means that the universe won't last long enough for you to finish the whole trip.

[nucleardream]

so by this standard, the universe in which we live is a self-contained one? One that theoretically has an edge, but not seemingly if one were able to travel it? Does this not open up the rational possibility of there being multiple universes, each contracting or expanding in accordance with laws of the universe? In this case, the maximum size of a universe would be defined with the amount of energy it has to expand (and then depletes as it begins to contract).

The point at which it begins to contract may depend on the mass of objects it is able to generate in the course of its life, since these objects factor into the amount of exertion it provides on other bodies, thereby constraining the "growth' (i.e. outward momentum) of these bodies/objects and pulling them back inward toward something (i.e. a variable center of the universe).

[bernardo]

Yes, the universe is self-contained
No, it does not have an edge
Yes, there might be a multiverse containing many universes

[curlyfilm]

there can be no edge or end too the universe, becuse whats outside of it, nothing, no such thing, i think it simply goes on and on

[welshwil]

isnt it expanding?

[curlyfilm]

good point welshwil, but expanding into what, nothing (no such thing) sorry i'm not a big bang believer

[nucleardream]

Yes, it is expanding but research today shows that it will likely contract some day - once it reaches some limit, it will begin to contract into something the size of what it started out as at the big bang (I've heard comparisons to the size of a human pupil at time 0). Then once it recycles into what it began as, another big bang will restart the process of expansion. The basic elements will once again form random interconnections with one another - interactions that will likely produce a type of synergistic quality in its output at some time, some point and at some where.

If we accept the reality of multiverse, and the expansion-contraction law, there are many universes with varying proximity between them. Some are expanding (like ours) and some are contracting (like ours will do). Could some be pressed against each other, helping one contract as the other expands? Does empty (i.e. dead) space even exist between universes? Could tangible existence be approaching infinity with a dynamic multiplex in a never-ending sea of universes?

And then my only point in the post above is if there is some of calculating the maximum size the universe could achieve, since we do a bit about the rate of its expansion. Just a thought...

[nucleardream]

Sorry, the expansion-contraction idea isn not a law - a theory grounded in viable observation perhaps?