New study super-sizes the universe (156 billion light-years wide)

[papau]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5051818/

New study super-sizes the universe
Width of cosmos estimated at 156 billion light-years

By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer

Updated: 11:46 a.m. ET May 24, 2004 <snip> In the new study, researchers examined primordial radiation imprinted on the cosmos. Among their conclusions is that it is less likely that there is some crazy cosmic "hall of mirrors" that would cause one object to be visible in two locations. And they've ruled out the idea that we could peer deep into space and time and see our own planet in its youth. <snip>

The universe is about 13.7 billion years old. Light reaching us from the earliest known galaxies has been travelling, therefore, for more than 13 billion years. So one might assume that the radius of the universe is 13.7 billion light-years and that the whole shebang is double that, or 27.4 billion light-years wide.<snip>

But the universe has been expanding ever since the beginning of time, when theorists believe it all sprang forth from an infinitely dense point in a Big Bang.<snip>

All the pieces add up to 78 billion light-years. The light has not traveled that far, but "the starting point of a photon reaching us today after travelling for 13.7 billion years is now 78 billion light-years away," Cornish said. That would be the radius of the universe, and twice that — 156 billion light-years — is the diameter. That's based on a view going 90 percent of the way back in time, so it might be slightly larger.<snip>

[ThoughtCriminal]

1. I think I get it

It's because space itself has expanded.

[papau]

2. DUPE

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x9068