It is a difficult bit of mental acrobatics to actually understand the size of the universe, to grok its immensity. I know that I have trouble with it. I mean it is huge but once I realized that in any amount of time that it takes to reach any putative universal border the universe would have expanded beyond to a point a very very long ways away. In much the same way as you can just keep adding to numbers the universe just keeps on adding space. There is no largest number. Evidently, the recently discovered
accelerating universe suggests that it is adding space faster and faster all the time. There is no largest universe.
Of course that doesn't mean we can't look for the end of the Universe (I hear there's a fabulous restaurant there) and so we have.
If there is one thing humans can be proud of it is the magnificent bit of technology that we placed into orbit in April 1990.
Still astronomers weren't satisfied. It wasn't far enough. Was there a way to reach farther back in space-time? There was!
Finally, a video that will fly you through Hubble's eXtreme Deep Field.
Hope you all enjoyed the trip!
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Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share part of the evening around a virtual kitchen table with kossacks who are caring and supportive of one another. So bring your stories, jokes, photos, funny pics, music, and interesting videos, as well as links—including quotations—to diaries, news stories, and books that you think this community would appreciate. Readers may notice that most who post diaries and comments in this series already know one another to some degree, but newcomers should not feel excluded. We welcome guests at our kitchen table, and hope to make some new friends as well.
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