The Universe
The Universe
The visible Universe is about 15 million light years across.
A light year is the distance light travels in one year.
Light travels 300,000 km in one second.
This is only what we can estimate from what we can observe.
Over 2 million galaxies have been counted in the Universe but there could be
as many as 100,000 million!
Distant galaxies seen by the
Hubble Space Telescope
The Milky Way
Earth is in the galaxy called the Milky
Way.
The Milky Way is 100,000 light years
across.
Remember: a light year is the distance
light travels in one year.
Light travels 300,000 km in one second.
Are you feeling very small yet?
This is an impression of what the Universe may look like if we could step
‘outside’ it and take a photograph of it. Why would it be impossible for us to
step outside the Universe, even if we could get to the ‘edge’?
If God exists, then God must be ‘outside’ space and time. Another way of saying
this is that God ‘transcends’ space and time. This is because space and time limit
humans. We are born, we live, we grow old and we die.
So if God exists, where on this diagram would God be?
If God exists, and God is infinite, God must be:Spaceless
Timeless
Transcendent
Next time the sky is clear at night, go outside and look up at the
stars. Contemplate the vastness and mystery of the Universe and
what your place in it might be.