the universe

I was watching History Channel's 'The Universe' yesterday about the Milky Way galaxy. As we all know, our solar system is just a minute spot at the edge of the Milky Way. To us humans, the solar system is so vast yet we are just a speck in the galaxy. If that does make you feel insignificant, the Milky Way is just one galaxy out of the 170 BILLION GALAXIES in the observable universe. When they say observable, does that mean there are many more galaxies in the "UNSEEN' universe? I guess i'll never know.

The mysteries of the universe is something that has fascinated me for many years. The universe is defined as the totality of everything that exists,including all physical matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. From what I know, the universe expands faster that the speed of light. For those who didn't know that, YES THE UNIVERSE EXPANDS. IT STILL IS! So if the universe continuously expands, where does it expand into? Put it this way, if a balloon is pumped while inside a container, it will expand in size. This is because there are spaces between the walls of the container and the balloon. Once the balloon touches the walls, the balloon will explode if more air is pumped. So if the universe is expanding, what is the space onto which the universe expands?The space that i'm talking about is not the "OUTER SPACE" where shuttles fly to but "SPACE",a three-dimensional framework in which we can sense direction and quantify distances between objects or points (Courtesy of Wiki). According to Wikipdia, the expansion for the universe is intrinsic, meaning that the universe is not expanding outwardly into a pre-existing space. It does expand into anything outside of itself. Confused? So am I.Based on the finite theory, space(the mathematical concept)wraps around itself. If we were to hypothetically walk across the universe, we would actually end up back in the place where we started.

So, we all know that the background of the universe is black. So if the rapidly expanding universe is black, does that mean the pre-existing space( suppose there is a pre-existing space) is colourless? According to scientists, the universe will continuously expand until it rips itself apart. I used to think( I still do) that the universe will continue to expand until it reaches the edge/boundary of the erm..."space" and when it does reach the end,there will be a sign hung onto the boundary of space that says "DEAD END". haahhahhhahaha

In the end, we do not know whether space extends to infinity or there is a boundary somewhere out there. I guess it's something that only GOD knows.