How large is the universe?
104718
well... the universe is not infinite or so say today's scientists. according to the parallel universe theory,there are various universes and our's is one of 'em . well one cannot really define the *length* of a universe because it is almost impossible to percieve something that big for the human mind.
3031
The universe is big enough to contain over 100 billion galaxies, of which the Milky Way is one. It is also expanding. Since it is growing larger, it can't be infinite, since infinitely-sized things can't become larger than infinity.
90108
I don't believe so.  If there is any merit to the Big Bang theory (and there's lots of scientific evidence in support of it), then the universe has a radius of currently about 14 billion light-years, and is expanding.  \n\nThat's pretty big, but it's not infinite.
9649
It does not end and its growing, before you try tackling such a question, answer the micro-level questions of the same kind.  The universe encompasses all that exists, and by default then, it is largely unknown.  We don't know where the universe ends, and all evidence points to it being endless and growing, therefore we make a conclusion based on a portion of the information actually needed.
224500
Wikipedia claims that the observable universe contains about 7 × 1022 stars, organized in about 100 billion galaxies, which themselves form clusters and superclusters. An Ask the Scientist response to this question claimed that there are about 10 billion (10^10) stars in an average galaxy, \nand there are about 10 billion galaxies that we can observe in the universe, so the answer is 100 billion billion or 10^20. I don't think it is an issue that we have a precise answer for as yet.
300537
There is disagreement over whether the universe is indeed finite or infinite in spatial extent and volume. Many astronomers and cosmologists believe the universe is infinite due to recent findings in NASA's WMAP project supporting a flat (therefore infinite) universe\n\nHowever, the observable universe, consisting of all locations that could have affected us since the Big Bang given the finite speed of light, is certainly finite. The edge of the cosmic light horizon is 13.7 billion light years (4.19 Gpc) distant. The present distance (comoving distance) to the edge of the observable universe is larger, due to the ever increasing rate at which the universe has been expanding; it is estimated to be about 78 billion light years (7.8 × 1010 light years, or 7.4 × 1026 m). This would make the comoving volume, of the known universe, equal to 1.9 × 1033 cubic light years (assuming this region is perfectly spherical). The observable universe contains about 7 × 1022 stars, organized in about 100 billion galaxies, which themselves form clusters and superclusters. The number of galaxies may be even larger, based on the Hubble Deep Field observed with the Hubble Space Telescope. The Hubble Space Telescope discovered galaxies such as Abell 1835 IR1916, which are over 13 billion light years from Earth.\n\nBoth popular and professional research articles in cosmology often use the term "universe" when they really mean "observable universe". This is because unobservable physical phenomena are scientifically irrelevant; that is, they cannot affect any events that we can perceive.
773398
Gosh.  A sensible question, and you have to put up with fourteen completely dumb-cluck answers until one that is actually CORRECT.  The number of elementary particles in the universe is quite a modest number, and well-reasoned estimates of around 10^80 give or take a factor of 10 have been around for nearly a century.\n\nMost of the Universe is hydrogen, so troothskr's 2 x 10^79 hydrogen atoms converts to 4 x 10^79 particles.  Adding photons, neutrinos, and dark matter, it is still unlikely to exceed 10^81.
784741
The universe may be infinite in size, or it may be of only finite size. Doesn't the universe have to be infinite? It doesn't make any sense that it would be finite, then there would be some end or edge, and what would be beyond that?\n\nStrange as it may seem, the universe could be finite, a finite universe would not have to have any edges or an end, it could 'wraparound'. The universe could be curved. Huh? How could you curve the universe?\n\nAn analogy should help, consider the surface of the Earth. It looks flat and many children and ancient people might assume that it is flat and that it is either infinite or must have an end or edge somewhere.\n\nBut the Earth's surface is curved, it wraps around and closes in on itself. There is only a finite amount of area yet there is no ends or edges. The two-dimensional flat surface of the Earth is wrapped around into a sphere when viewed in three dimensions. If you set out flying westward in a plane, you will wraparound and eventually return to where you started, approaching from the east.\n\nThe universe may be a curved three-dimensional space that wraps around and closes on itself. If you set out in a spacecraft heading one direction, you could eventually return to the same spot from the opposite direction.\n\n \n\nA nice demonstration of the scale of the universe is to start with a view showing our galaxy and then zoom by a factor of ten once per second. Such a demonstration is done at http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/ \n\nClick on this link and view the demo. Use your browser's Back button to return to this page after watching the demo.\n\n\nThe entire universe, or just the visible portion of the universe if its infinite, is roughly 27 billion light-years across. That's 159,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles. Our solar system, from the Sun to Pluto, is .00063 light-years across or 3,720,000,000 miles. That makes our solar system 42,700,000,000,000 times smaller than the whole universe.\n\nCan we put that into a more meaningful perspective? If the entire Earth's surface represents the whole universe, the solar system on that scale would be one-millionth of a meter wide, about 1/25,000 of an inch, the size of a single, small bacteria.
1055858
If you've ever wondered how big the universe is, you're not alone. Astronomers have long pondered this, too, and they've had a hard time figuring it out. Now an estimate has been made, and its a whopper.\n\nThe universe is at least 156 billion light-years wide. \n\nIn 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.\n\nFirst, let's see why the size is a number you've never heard of before.\n\nStretching reality\n\nThe 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.\n\nBut 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.\n\n"All the distance covered by the light in the early universe gets increased by the expansion of the universe," explains Neil Cornish, an astrophysicist at Montana State University. "Think of it like compound interest."\n\nNeed a visual? Imagine the universe just a million years after it was born, Cornish suggests. A batch of light travels for a year, covering one light-year. "At that time, the universe was about 1,000 times smaller than it is today," he said. "Thus, that one light-year has now stretched to become 1,000 light-years."\n\nAll 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.\n\n"It can be thought of as a spherical diameter is the usual sense," Cornish added comfortingly.\n\n(You might have heard the universe is almost surely flat, not spherical. The flatness refers to its geometry being "normal," like what is taught in school; two parallel lines can never cross.)
1151663
Universe in not infinite. It is finite and constantly expanding. Yes there are more galaxies than no. of grains of sands in all beaches of the world. This universe is unimaginably huge!
1126282
Consider this there are billions upon billions of stars in each galaxy we are just 1 galaxy and there are billions upon billions of galaxy's in the universe. So the question should start with the universe.
516526
if we say its size is limited . then what will be beyond the universe . and if we say its size is unlimited . then how can we explain this . the space and the time are very difficult to understand . that is why some says that the only thing real is GOD . the whole other things are only an imagined thing created by GOD . like a dream . but you must know that even the dreams have some being of some kind . if a dream is not exist . then how can we see it .
995272
Science nor anyone else can answer your question! As far as science can determine, our universe (space) is not contained within any 'thing' else. If anyone tries to tell you otherwise, they're just blowin' smoke.
18752
it basically says that there are these giant cosmic strings that stretch an infinite distance and they are very dense (as in they're so thin that they are not visible, yet a millimeter would weigh tons and tons) and their huge mass warps space-time and they help to make up the universe as we know it. there are also small vibrating strings on the sub atomic level that make up the smallest divisions of matter. String theory also describes 11 dimentions.  If you're interested in it, read "the elegant universe" by Brian Greene, it explains it a lot better than i can here.
1122794
Well, just our own galaxy is around 1 x 10^18 km across (or 1 x 10^21 m). Lets scale it down to the diameter of the Earth  at 12,750 km, or lets call it around 1 x 10^7 m. This means we would have to scale down the galaxy by a fact of 10^14.\n\nOn this scale, the Earth would have a diameter of around 1 x 10^-10 m. This is about one ten thousandth the diameter of a human hair. So a galaxy the size of the Earth would have and Earth 1/10000th the size of a hair.\n\nIt does not help our concepts of the scales to continue this to the Universe - its just very very big.
686202
Universe theories talk about a finite and unlimited Universe. The Universe is unlimited because it has no boundaries. There is no edge, no end where a spaceship would have to stop. See it as a tiny bug walking on the surface of a big balloon. The ballon has a finite dimension, but the bug will never find the end, so it is unlimited from the bug's point of view.\nSo, the Universe can be expanding or contracting or staying the same size. This is a very important question to answer in modern astronomy. Latest studies say that it is expanding, but it has not been totally proved.\nAnd where it is expanding? The Universe is creating more space and time where there is nothing.
1046416
Let's assume that by "known Universe" we're talking about the observable Universe. That is a sphere 14.5 billion light-years in radius. \n\nOne light-year is 9.46 x 10^12 km or 9.46 x 10^18 mm. So 14.5 billion light years is 1.37 x 10^29 mm, which is the radius of the Observable Universe. Applying the formula for the volume of a sphere (v = 4/3 pi r^3), we find that the Observable Universe has a volume of:\n\n1.08 x 10^88 cubic millimeters. Which is the number of grains of sand you'd need.