How is it possible to view the beginning of the Universe in every direction on Earth

[DAF]

Can you explain how it is that I can look in any direction in the sky and if I have a strong enough telescope, I would be able to see the beginning of the Universe (i.e. Big Bang)? I’m visualizing that the Universe expands like a balloon and the Big Bang is in the middle of that balloon. Also, is it possible that the Universe is bigger since the Big Bang would have expanded in the opposite direction from where we, on Earth, are seeing it 13.5 billion years ago?

 

[Catastrophe]

For starters, there was no light (there were no photons) for some time after the so-called Big Bang

Whilst on the subject, Einstein said:

"Pure logical thinking cannot yield us any knowledge of the empirical world; all knowledge of reality starts from experience" Ideas and Opinions 1954

 

[Catastrophe]

There is another point, that sooner or later one gets to the point where light does not have time to reach us i.e., the Universe is expanding so quickly that the distance becomes too great to travel in the time available.

I think there are more to come . . . . . . . . .

Cat

 

[rod]

Some following answers to #1, may enjoy these cosmology calculators. I find them very useful when discussing redshift distances, comoving radial distances in BB cosmology.
https://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/help/cosmology_calc.html

I chiefly use calculator 1, defaults and enter the z number for redshift and use flat model. The universe size according to BB cosmology, is at least 46.5 billion light-years distance from Earth frame of reference, see How Big Is the Universe?, https://www.livescience.com/how-big-universe.html

However, telescopes cannot see this volume of space. Redshifts are understood in the cosmological distance measurement, e.g. z = 15, the object could be 13.446 billion light-years travel time from Earth, but much farther away using comoving radial distance in the cosmology calculators. So far, I have not seen reports that z numbers of 15 or larger have been documented. This means the present view of the size of the universe according to the BB model, cannot be verified today. So if someone is attempting to observe the BB event, that is not likely

 

[AsteroidAware]

Another interesting phenomena preventing from seeing the whole universe is that the extremes get away from each other faster than the speed of light.

However with the universe expanding faster than thought earlier, there is a lot we don't know yet about our wonderful universe

 

[Helio]

Can you explain how it is that I can look in any direction in the sky and if I have a strong enough telescope, I would be able to see the beginning of the Universe (i.e. Big Bang)? I’m visualizing that the Universe expands like a balloon and the Big Bang is in the middle of that balloon. Also, is it possible that the Universe is bigger since the Big Bang would have expanded in the opposite direction from where we, on Earth, are seeing it 13.5 billion years ago?

Hi DAF. Welcome aboard.

Imagine you are an ant on that balloon of yours. Your job is to find the center of the balloon, but fail every time because, for you, there is only the surface you can sense.

This is one of the better analogies to help argue that we have no center for the universe. A "closed" universe would even bend light so that it would eventually come back from behind you.

Also, the BBT is like a balloon as it expands. Every stationary ant on the balloon would claim that all the ants are moving farther away from their original distance from them. Which one ant would be right? There would be no way to tell even if somehow one ant was fixed relative to a space undetectable.

The universe is very likely larger since the 13.77 billion years time frame is based on the observable universe and it's reasonable to assume that our limitations due to the speed of light are all that prevent us from seeing farther.