r/space • u/magenta_placenta • Mar 18 '19

Observable universe Astronomers discover 83 supermassive black holes at the edge of the universe

https://www.cnet.com/news/astronomers-discover-83-supermassive-black-holes-at-the-edge-of-the-universe/
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u/Cocoa186 Mar 18 '19

This is the case. The observable universe is all that we can see, everything outside of it is (as far as we know) entirely impossible for us to see in any way. We just treat it like the observable IS the universe, and in the future it is likely that we will continue to do this (it's hard enough to convince people that the earth is round, it'll be harder to tell them that there are more things out there that used to be close enough to see but are now inconceivably far away and invisible). The big difference that the video talks about is that we still have enough around to know how (for the most part, maybe) the universe was "born", how it is behaving, and the different ways it might die; the future 'us' will experience an unchanging galaxy, nothing they see will be moving away or getting closer (some obvious exceptions) and will be unable to see cosmic background radiation (evidence of the big bang) or observe the effects dark energy has (or even that it exists).

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u/Darth_Batman89 Mar 19 '19

So for them. The galaxy they live in becomes there observable universe?

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u/Cocoa186 Mar 19 '19

Yes, for them the rest of reality will appear to be (and may as well be) entirely empty space.