This is very complex question, and is highly philosofical. Let's start saying that when we humans started to discover our surroundings we first found close planets and the sun. We called it a Planetary System. Then we learned that almost every star is the center of other planetary systems, and that thousands of planetary systems formed what we know as Galaxies. Now galaxies respond to the same laws, they have a center and all planetary systems being balanced by its central energy go around it. Now we know that galaxies also form groups with a central point of balance, and as far as we know this accumulations of galaxies also rotate around a bigger center. Logic then suggests that this system, at some point should have to find "the center", which would be the biggest energy center, or the center of the universe. But now the new question arises: This universe is also part of a cluster of universes that rotates around something bigger? According to our present knowledge, the universe is "infinite". But is also in constant expansion. Expansion requires void space to be filled....so what is this "void". Is it there? It's being created on demand? Is there a final "wall"? If so, what is behind that "wall"? The interesting part is that this system of "balanced energy" doesn't only go outside, but also inside. In other words, planets also have cores, and everything on the planet is formed by molecules and atoms, and if you see an atom you will inmediatly notice that it resembles a planetary system. Even atoms have been separated in smaller units, that follow the same pattern and rules. So, are planetary systems the atoms that form a bigger structure? Are galaxies, clusters of planetary systems that work as molecules for a larger thing? The nice thing is that the "universe" seems to be formed by this basic building blocks, which form bigger blocks, and bigger blocks and so on indefinite. Our tridimensial human perspective finds hard to understand the meaning of indefinite, because all 3D things have a beginning and an end. So, what if the universe has more than three dimensions? This are all questions that have no answer yet. And many scientist believe that they will never be answered. At the end, we can only theorize, wonder and look at nature in awe. I recommend you to find a nice spot away from the city and the lights, have a cup or glass of your favorite drink, look at the night sky and reach your own conclusions. Who knows if you can find a new perspective, a new glass for humans to look thru....or just an answer for you, to satisfy your inquisitive spirit. TO THE PERSON THAT BAD RATED THIS ANSWER: Einstein, Hawkins and the other are only theorizing, there is no scientific facts in this respect. Giving a bad rating to this philosofical answer to a philosofical question is to show a "crippled-spirit". One that contents itself with part-answers. After all our ancestors though Copernicus and then Newton were right, and now we know different. The same have happened with many Einstein's theories and the same will happen with Hawkins.

More universe. ;)

bigger stars , bigger meteors , bigger black holes , i don't know anything

Nothing. The universe is expanding into nothing. Can our brains comprehend nothing. Nothing meaning: No particles, no energy, no laws, no anything.

Parallel cowboy universe. And I'm hoping like hell someone gets the reference. No one gets my references, and then I feel bad because I feel like I'm plagiarizing. :(

Your question is meaningless. The univers, as I use the term, is everything that exists. So there cannot be anything else, becasue if exists, it is part of the universe.

Haven't you seen Men in Black(the most authoritative and factual movie ever)? Our universe exists inside of a gaming marble which probably belongs to some macro-universe alien being.

milk.

I don't know what I think, but I know what I wish it is! I would love it to be a parallel universe, just so we can see if the opposite is any better than what we have now. Also, wouldn't be interesting to meet the opposite of yourself?

If you are familiar with the big bang theory then you know that scientist's say that the universe is still expanding. Thus there has to be something the universe is expanding in to. And what is that? Existnacne. But the question is... where does existance... Exist in?

I don't know, but I have a strong feeling that it's blue.

ImAlec is correct: the question is logically incoherent, and therefore cannot possibly have the kind of answer you're seeking. By definition, the "Universe" is everything that exists, so what you're asking is "What exists outside of the packgage called 'everything that exists'". One doesn't need to be an astronomer or physicist to see that this question answers itself.

Oh, come on, folks. If you'd bother finding out about astronomy before answering, you'd discover that our best guess is that the farther away things get, the faster they go. The "edge" of the universe is where things are receding at the speed of lightrelative to us--and since no information about anything can come back to us at any greater speed than lightspeed, what would be beyond the universe could just be "more universe." But we couldn't know anything about it. The stars we could see at the outer limits would also seem to be paper thin, just before disappearing forever. Of course, because of this vast distance, almost no information CAN come back to us from individual stars, because of the inverse-square law--even some of the 100 stars closest to us are invisible to the naked eye.

Whatever created the universe, the master.

I think the universe is like a cirle, no beginning and no end...

WE ALL WANT TO KNOW WHERE HEAVEN IS LOCATED. PEOPLE SAY IN THE CLOUDS, IN SPACE, BUT I BELIEVE THAT IS WHERE HEAVEN, IS LOCATED, BEYOND THE UNIVERSE!

According to the ancient pyramid drawings, there has to be another life, somewhere. the drawings show runways for some type of vehicle. Also, unknown markings are found on the pyramid structures, mainly where the building blocks form together, with pinpoint accuracy. raise a doubt in your mind? it does to me. Too many people, have observed too many strange objects in the sky. Therefore, i can only assume that there is another earth, or equivelant, somewhere in the vast universe.

Things that defy logic, reason and imagination.

Socks that don't match. Ball point pens, erasers, pencils, homework, lost invoices, letters enroute to the post office, phone numbers on post its and excessive dryer lint.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=SpkSeVgvA0o&mode=related&search= Here ya go...this is amazing :) Please be patient with it. It will answer your question

The thoughts that are manifesting themselves as "the universe".

Universe is expanding, so there is something outside of it but...what is it? Nothing?

More universe... even scientists are having problems fathoming it's depths, they have some really good theory's though, but there is a range we cannot see beyond because the light from the stars is so ancient we may just be witnessing a light from a star that no longer exists in it's relative frame of time. - Am I the only person on here who has seen and understood the movie "What The Bleep Do We Know"? What science is saying is that all we have are a lot of good theory's, but verifying the universes principles is more confounding to the human mind than you might think. In other words, no one knows for sure what is beyond the universe.

I think they have already proven that...another universe. If not, that is my belief.

I think nothing, but it would be cool if there were parallel universes or just other universes, but doubtful.

A really long smoker full of brisket and ribs and vats of mashed sweet potatos.You gotta take your own coleslaw and beer.

A big sign saying "Insert tab A into slot B, glue carefully and leave to dry"

All kinds of space. Deep space.

Energies we can draw on.

I do not think the human brain can understand what's is beyond the universe. We will probably never know. I happen to believe in multiple universes - an endless amount all infinitely big. Perhaps beyond our universe is just an infinite amount of other universes occupying an infinite amount of space.

I have a (totally unfounded) theory... which is kind of hard to explain- and might not make much sense. I think that since WE exist in this universe that OUR THOUGHTS also exist in this universe. Since our thoughts ONLY exist in this universe, anything NOT in the universe needs/has no definition.

space

space

I've said before and I say again...it depends on your definition of "universe." Some believe it means only the part of space which contains stars, galaxies, and so forth, with empty space beyond it being something else. To me, the universe is all of....the part with stars, and the empty space beyond it. Us humans just don't want to accept something that never ends in any direction....goes forever. That's because our entire lives involve things with beginnings and ends (even our lives themselves). What's harder to picture than an unending universe is one that never begins (has no beginning). To me, there's nothing beyond it because it never ends, stars, galaxies, and empty space.

there is no "beyond". the universe doesn't end.

another universe(seriously)

I read in a book somewhere that what's beyond our universe is just another universe. Not a universe caused by paradox like in most sci-fi. The theory goes that there maybe whole universes right next to our own gathered in clusters. These universe clusters could actually number in billions of universes. Kinda crazy thing to comprehend, huh?

a big billboard that says "Your tax dollars at work"

Texas. Whatever the universe resides in needs to be bigger than the universe. Everything is bigger in texas, therefore the only thing that could contain the universe is in texas. The largest thing in texas is the state itself. So, Logically, only texas could contain the universe.

Its still a puzzle yet to be solved the scientists. If u ask me its our concept that some thing starts here and ends here . we hav just limited our thinking to this.actually universe has no end.Its wondering but its true.

I wrote something about that once. I was wondering just that when my mind blew - and expanded till it popped out of the universe. I was in a dim room. An old man was bent over, staring into an orb that was spinning in an ornate gold cradle. As it spun I saw galaxies forming, swirling and flying apart. As it slowed, everything shrank toward the centre until, when the orb stopped, it was completely dark except for a tiny, tiny spot in the centre. I realised that I'd just seen the end of my entire universe. Then the old man reached out to spin the orb again...

No, gives me a headache.

Yes, I have. Ever since I was young boy. I have always wondered. Now that I am a full grown man, I still wonder...

Isn't it Sigourney Weaver?? If not I'll be disappointed.

Yes, I have. Ever since I was young boy. I have always wondered. Now that I am a full grown man, I still wonder...

Yes i think that there are planets and other things just like ours, but multiple of them

Yes and it confuses me. I keep thinking it's endless, then I think 'All that space, I wonder where it ends.' Then I think it's endless and I get stuck in a mind loop till someone calls me. Either that or an immortal old person sits staring at a board with all the planets stars and that hovering in their respectful positions.

My thought is that, if the universe is still expanding from the big bang,then those boundries have not yet been created.so what i think is that what ever was there before the big bang, is there beyone the univese.

It's totaly irrelevant. It has nothing to do with your happiness or personal progress. Waste of precious time.

everything and nothing, just vast stretches of empty space with the ocassional pocket of stars and planets with some sort of beings wondering what is beyond the universe.

1) "everything that exists anywhere" http://dict.die.net/universe/ If the universe is defined as everything that exists anywhere (and anytime), what could be beyond it? What is not a thing? Is a thought, a ghost, a soul, a spirit or a god a thing? If not, there is nothing beyond the universe. But what is nothing? A big quote mark probably! 2) "The Universe is defined as the summation of all particles and energy that exist and the space-time in which all events occur." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universe "A multiverse (or meta-universe) is the hypothetical set of multiple possible universes (including our universe) that together comprise all of physical reality. The different universes within a multiverse are called parallel universes. The structure of the multiverse, the nature of each universe within it and the relationship between the various constituent universes, depend on the specific multiverse hypothesis considered." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiverse_%28science%29 According to this, if we explore all of our universe, we do not have explored everything, because outside of it, disconnected from it (in space and time), unreacheable from us, there could exist other parallel universes.

I personally quite like the Brane theory perspective on the univerise, since it allows, and even requires, parallel universes, gives methods of interaction for them, helps to account for the descrepency in strength between gravity vs other forces, explanations for, say, the big bang, also explanations for the possible fates of the universe, etc! All in all a good possibility, except nearly impossible to test.

1. the totality of known or supposed objects and phenomena throughout space; the cosmos; macrocosm. OWNED!!!

another universe... there has got to be more than the universe we comprehend...

I consider our universe to exist within the confines of the vacuum of space... I checked with the only other vacuum I have access to and can only conclude, after careful inspection, that after the vacuum of space in our universe there is a dust bag.

I believe that the universe is ever expanding.

I may be wrong in deriving this, but considering the 4th dimension to be space and time, and considering the theory presented in http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/010902a.html. There is a possibility of a different universe in a different plane and space, and in a different time. This universe may be nothing but the same universe in which we are discussing these things but in a different time and plane. For example, consider the universe to be expanding. Till where will it expand? Is there a wall where this expansion will stop? If there is a wall then what is there beyond that wall? Well I think if there is a wall then may be another universe beyond this wall which is in a different time and space. This will be something where in there will me a person(me) who is yet to visit this site, read this discussion and write a post on it, or may be a person(me)who has already written a post and reading which most of the people might have laughed a lot over it.:) If I consider this then there has to be a gateway to go through this wall. May be the "BLACK HOLE" is the gateway where in not even the light passes through. May be it is a gateway to the different universe. If Light could pass through this blackhole then we would have surely known what is there in the "BLACK HOLE". So considering a different universe in a different time and space then this Black hole should not allow light to pass through else this universe (or what ever is there beyond the "BLACK HOLE" ) will be exposed to everyone and we would not have been hunting for the answer.

According to brane theory, which is a 'step up' from string theory (however, it should be noted, almost completely untestable/impossible to experimentally verify), our universes exists in a plane of branes. The best analogy would be to imagine the universe as a balloon, occupying a room of other balloons. However, this greatly simplifies the situation, and ignores the fact that, say, other branes occupy higher dimensions, or more dimensions. Big bangs are caused when two branes collide, and one of the reasons our universe is so stable is that we occupy so few dimensions that it is very unlikely we will collide. Theoretical physicists are taking it one step further and looking at what governs the laws of physics across all the different universes (a slight contradiction in terms, since universes means one, but nonetheless)... If the laws of physics are identical across all parallel universes, then it means that they are inherent properties of something higher than the brane world, whereas if they vary across the parallel universes, it means there is a mechanism for generating them, which is 'higher' than the brane world. Interesting stuff.

Nothing. If the universe is all things, and there is only one universe (uni = one, a singularity), then nothing remains outside the universe.

For Slothmister -- comment posting isnt working for some reason My silly comment hasnt come up for no apparent reason. Anyway My point is If we have a graph with values of y and values of x, and y = f(x) for all but one value of x, then it is still wrong. The relationship needs to govern every possible variable in every possible range, or else it is still wrong, or an approximation. You should look up the Ultraviolet Catastrophe for a more explicit modern example. However, I do speak as a physicist undergrad... Yes, for every day purposes, newton was not wrong, but he was not right, to any degree. His equations worked for what he knew, and I'm not saying he's a bad scientist. He had no method to advance it beyond. Just for reference, we use Newtonian laws to about 5% of C before switching to relativity laws, but any attempt to use newtonian laws horribly screws up, for one, electromagnetism, at any v->c.

The universe never began and could never end; hard to understand but it makes sense to me charlie s

Before going through the details of universe, one thing again should hit your mind is that everything is surrounded by something like your T.V. is surrounded by your home and your is under the universe, but what about the universe? Is it also surrounded or not? It is. Its answer can be given to make the negative answer to be falsed. Suppose the univese is not surrounded by anything then what would be there? There might be two answer first the vaccume and other is something hard material but under what it is (vaccume or hard material) is surrounded by..This concequences go on and hard to understand the end of vision that we can think off.

I like the answer of Mr. Weatherman. The Hindu Upanishads say that the universe is infinite.

i'm looking at it in my avatar but i'm not telling. it's a secret between god and me.

It is not so easy as it seems to define what we are refering to when talking about the universe. It could be: - the universe that we know - the universe that we could know - the whole universe Beyond the universe that we know, there is the universe that we could know. Beyond the universe that we could know, there is the whole universe. Beyond the whole universe, there is nothing. For instance, the universe that we know involves some elementar components such as quarks, and some galaxies. The universe that we could know would go up to the point where there is a barrier which don't allow us to explore the world further. (But many barriers of the past could be crossed.) In the last years, some people thought that the speed of light was one of these barriers. Finally, if we can somehow theoretically imagine some other worlds beyond the universe that we cannot get away from, the very concept of universe for all these imaginable things would imply that there is nothing outside it. At least, nothing that we can imagine. And this would mean about the same for us. Here some information about this issue: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiverse_%28science%29

A McDonalds.

The universe encompasses everything. Therefore it's just more universe.

I think: the consciousness of the Universe. I say it in spite of the fact that, theoretically and probably it is only temporary, and will disappear with the present status of the Universe.

By: Domingo E. Palomares, Jaen, Nueva Ecija Philippines.The Universe is infinite, it has no shape and no edges. Here in our milky way, elsewhere in the universe there are other wonderful systems, other fascinating objects exist,and many mysterious occurrences, different from what we know today. Human mind though how intelligent it is, will never have an ability to find the real answer to his basic question about life and the universe itself. As we go further in our search for truth, the more we eagerly interested, the more we gain knowledge only to satisfy our present curiosity and beyond that curiosity there's no answer. October 31, 2007

yes Friends, the Universe is expanding from zero size. It's like a balloon grow in size when air filled inside. As far as there is a power inside the universe which is pushing the elements outward from a central point, it will keep on expand. New space is created by filling it with elements of different characteristics, whether it is dark matter, light or anything else. There is nothing like void(empty space) in the Universe, whether it is viewable or not, sensible or not. We cannot find/explain/imagine 'beyond universe' as it doesn't exist and we live inside the universe cannot experience

Mind blowing endless nothingness.

A restaurant.

Bioverses

Infinitessimal fluff. So why worry about fluff because it is one of those ridiculous names for anything that is unexplainable.

More universe.

It would be another universe, I think the universe is like numbers...endless. Although Einstein was said, if we had a telescope strong enough and then looked out into space and beyond we would see the backs of our head.

Our imagination

The Grey mass of undefined purpose!

I've read somewhere that there could be an infinite number of universes out there.

Anything that your imagination can hold... Feel free to dream!!!!

Thats where all the people from Star Wars live.

this is actually somewhat of a catch 22... the term universe meaning "everything" is all inclusive of everything. so if something were to lie beyond the universe it would actually be part of the collective universe. hence, theoretically you cant have anything beyond the universe. there may be parts of the universe that we dont know about, but they are still part of the one universe that we have.

a massive black hole, that no one will ever know what is beyond that.

If you want a 100% correct answer, just ask the BIG GUY. Besides him, no one else knows.

Beyond our Universe there is said to benothing. A vacuum

There is nothing. Not even time exists beyond the universe. Of course, this assumes a single, finite universe.

The Underverse where the Necromancers obtain their evil powers. http://countingdown.com/movies/3531221

Wal-Mart

God and seeing my dad again

A Peeping Tom!

The outer universe.

Another universe; supposedly, there are an infinite number of universes surrounding each other. One theory of the big bang is that two universes collided.

peanut butter

My theory is that the univererse is simple "stuff" or matter/anti-matter/dark matter ect and outside of this "stuff" is simply nothing.

The question is meaningless, because by definition the universe is everything that exists. (Still, I'm awarding you points for asking it!) According to the Standard Model of physics, the universe arose from an event called the Big Bang and has been expanding for some 14 billion years. It is (to use a very old phrase) "finite but unbounded" and has a measurable size. Admittedly our universe is properly referred to as the "observable" universe, and there are speculative hypotheses that ours is but one of an infinite number of other universes, collectively known as a "multiverse," possibly organized as a higher-dimensional fractal structure. Unfortunately there is no evidence to support these ideas.

The Nothing. Haven't you seen "The Neverending Story?"

A MacDonalds family restaurant. You can bet on it.

what I think....if we are like a gas bubble in boiling water. the universe is a bubble, they are other universe's and the stuff in between them is another substance w/out dimensions, maybe like what the black holes are made of joke..marvels like in men in black

God.

Well, the term "universe" is meant to describe all that exists, in entirety, so the answer to your question is, there is no"outside" the universe. It's a wholly unsatisfying answer at first, I know. Many astrophysicists and theoretical physicists (see Brian Greene's "The Elegant Universe") posit that the universe bends back on itself, so that if you travel in one direction you would eventually end up in the same spot, although that would be an incalculable amount of time from now.