Round and round the universe.

Could it be possible that the Hubble deep space pictures are actually looking all the way round the universe and taking photos of the Milky Way and other galaxies as they were 15-20 billion years ago? Could this picture of deepest space be the some of the same galaxies layered on top of each other from each 'circuit' the light has travelled? They would be different versions in time of the same objects. How would we know if this was not the case?
As the geometry/shape of the universe is possibly torus shaped, this implies that it must loop round on itself, yes?

I have wondered about this myself. Maybe the light has been curved around space, and objects could be closer than they appear. But after researching the red shift, which is how they measure distances in space, I think astronomers could tell. If it were true, then the light could be bent many times and there would be "copies" of the same galaxy at the same time. I don't think astronomers have ever seen two look exactly alike.

That's a good question though.

Relativity does have the possible suggestion of the universe being warped so much by gravity that it is twisted back onto itself like a giant 4 dimensional donut, however I doubt the universe has been around long enough for light to travel far enough to circle back. If we could see past the curve at a 20 billion year old (this number is most likely significantly smaller than the "diameter" of the universe) version of the Milky Way, it would most likely look like a much less ordered mass of odd shaped rapidly burning stars and gasses, assuming our estimates of how old the universe is are correct.

We don't know for sure what the shape of the Universe is, but you are right we are seeing these galaxies from billions of years ago.
There is in fact a project under way, called the Webb Telescope. It will see so far away that we hope to see the beginnings of the universe.
Here is it's official web site. www.jwst.nasa.gov...
We will have to wait another 6 years for this to launch.

Ive thought about this my self and thought maybe that the milky way was actually the only galaxy that ever existed but no thats not really possible considering all the weird galaxies we see out there. I think after you get past all these galaxies, youre just in total darkness forever and if you keep going and going maybe you end up on the other side? lol

"I think after you get past all these galaxies, youre just in total darkness forever and if you keep going and going maybe you end up on the other side? lol"

No offense, but thats a little too Mario for my taste.

[edit on 10-3-2005 by woahimapro]

I think that theres a problem if the universe is a sphere. As just here on earth then there would be a possibility to take off.

The Universe is everything there is so there cant be a beyond the Universe. Sounds a little wierd but that would just mean the Universe is infinite in all directions. I think Einstein said the Universe was infinite, as was human stupidity.

www.pbs.org...


If the string theory,Or M theory are correct. Then, Our universe is not Infinite. By universe I just mean the one we live in. if its right than there is something outside of our universe wherin our universe was created. That does not mean there is not infinity beyond that. Does that make sense? the link should help

Originally posted by Charlie Murphy
I think Einstein said the Universe was infinite, as was human stupidity.

he added that he wasn't sure about the former.

I was interested about learning extra dimensions and parallel Universes and that stuff was helpful; but I was only pointing out that the Universe would be infinite by definition. If the Universe is supposed to be everything what would the group of parallel Universes and extra dimensions be called as a whole. The video just called it "the bulk".

Our universe is infinite. What happens if you start going in a line and never stop? I doubt anyone will ever know.. you might end up back where you started, you might just keep going past an infinite number of galaxies. To describe the upper dimensions as being 'outside' the edge of our universe isn't really right. These string theory upper dimensions exist seperately from the isolated dimensions of our universe, as do the dimensions of any parallel universes. To say they are 'outside' or 'beside' doesn't really work because the relations dont apply.

No, we can't be looking in a loop coz I can't see the back of my head in that photo.

It will see so far away that we hope to see the beginnings of the universe.

I have a problem understanding the logic in this. If our galaxy was formed along with the others at the beginning of the universe, we would have to have travelled away from the center at many times the speed of light, spend billions of years forming and evolving, and wait around for the light to catch up to us??? Ok, my head hurts now..

Maybe the Universe is in the shape of a "String". That would be wierd. We might be under a microscope of something else.

[edit on 12-3-2005 by Charlie Murphy]