Quote:
Originally Posted by dexternjack
Those are two totally different measurements. The universe is almost 15 billion years old, but that has no relation in going a certain distance in light years/speed.
One is a measurement of how fast something is traveling, the other is just a measure of time.
Assuming the universe is expanding slower than the speed of light (186,000 miles per second), I was saying if a spaceship traveled at that speed for 220 million years in time, that it would eventually catch the 'edge' of the universe (if there is or isn't one).
Never-mind, too hard to express my thoughts, no way to explain what I am trying to say in words here  |
The two things are intertwined.
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreduc..._Universe.html
From this article, "The image below is both the oldest and youngest picture ever taken.
It is the oldest because it has taken the light nearly 14 billion years to reach us. And it is the youngest because it is a snapshot of our newborn universe, long before the first stars and galaxies formed. The bright patterns show clumps of simple matter that will eventually form stars and galaxies. This is as far as we can see into the universe. It is time, not space, which limits our view. Beyond a certain distance, light hasn't had time to reach us yet."
The age of the universe(time) is based on how long it has taken light to reach us(speed/distance). That not only tells us the age, but the size of the universe. They are related.
There are theories out there that claim the universe expansion exceeded the speed of light during the initial moments of the big bang.