Ask Gugel Anything About the Big Bang

[Ohgod]

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Okay, new question about whether there is a center point to the universe. I understand the idea that space itself expands. The universe itself may be endless, but what about the matter originating in the BB? None if it is more than 14 billion or 47 billion apart.

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I dont't think this is 'knowable' - nothing more than 47 BLY from us can have emitted light that has reached us, so it cannot affect us or be observed by us in any way. Thus, we are at the centre of our own obsevable universe. Similarly, another galaxy that we can see is at the centre of its own observable universe, which overlaps ours but is not identical to it. So there is nothing particularly special about the 'centre of the observable universe'.

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Or I guess that would be actually 94 BLY apart, if it's 47 in each direction. So within the infinite, shapeless universe, isn't there an expanding globe of stuff -- our observable universe -- that has a center point? If the universe is 94 billion LY wide, can't 47 BLY in from the frontier be considered a center point? And where in the sky would it be?

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Here. But that's not really surprising, and would also be true anywhere else.

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I agree it is slightly subtle - on the other hand, it IS basic information for someone setting themselves up as any kind of 'authority' on matters cosmological

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He understands that. The critics are just pouncing on something ambiguous, inadequately explained prose. It would be much more adult to say "Don't you mean 47 BLY?" rather than "gotcha, you wrong, wrong, wrong, bow before my superior intellect for all the world to see."

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On the other hand, it's not a minor matter. It is an easy slip to make, but it could also indicate that the OP has some fundamental misconceptions. Further discussion should help to indicate which. Similarly, if I have made any mistakes (since I am definitely not a specialist in the field), I welcome corrections.