If the Universe is larger than the "Observable Universe" does that imply the former is expanding faster than the speed of light?
by 
Mawgan
ANSWERS: 7
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Nothing travels faster than light. The light is simply too faint. The observable universe is only that which we can see which extend further with better technology.
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Yes. If things are receding faster the further away they are, then at some distance they must be receding faster than light. Note that this does not imply that they are actually traveling faster than light, just that space is stretching the distance between us and them faster than the speed of light. Of course, we cannot at this point tell if in seeing that far, we have actually seen several times round a closed universe, or we have only seen part of the way round a large closed univers or an open universe.
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We can see the observable universe. But we can't see its "end", "barrier". Therefore, the universe is bigger than what we can observe of it. Think of the horizon - you can only see to it and no further. But we know that's not the "end of the earth".
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Not really. The "observable universe" is basically a sphere of space with a radius of about 13.7 billion light-years. This is because the age of the universe is bout 13.7 billion (earth) years and the speed of light is finite. Light from objects closer to us than 13.7 billion light-years has had time to reach us since the beginning of the universe. Light emitted from an object any farther away has had not had time to reach us, so it is physically impossible to see. That is why the observable universe is limited to a sphere and the rest remains unknown by necessity, though it is highly likely there's more out there.
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The bodies beyond the observable universe are not travelling faster than light.......the fabric OF the universe is exapnding faster than light (just as it was at the big bang) and the further away something is the faster it must have travellled to get there.....this does NOT contravine Einstein's law. "Nothing can go faster than c". The fabric of space-time is not anything, it is a construct, a continuum. The point where the universe is expanding faster than c is the hubble constant and it is a well known thing. F
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The universe is expanding faster than the speed of light - especially when it underwent hyperinflation. This is no violation of Einstein's theory of relativity, since there is no information being carried... E.g. the famous lighthouse example - If you had a powerful enough lighthouse (Rotating one), eventually at some distance the beam of light is moving faster than the speed of light along the circumfrence. However, no information is being carried from one point on the circumfrence to another point on the circumfrence, so there is no violation.
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THE UNIVERSE AS WE'VE SEEN IT CANBOT BE TRAVELING FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF LIGHT OTHERWISE WE WOULD NEVER HAVE SEEN IT!
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