ARE WE REALLY ALONE? 5 DISCOVERIES THAT SHOWS WHAT LIES OUTSIDE THE UNIVERSE

Is it possible that there is something beyond this universe? Is there a bigger universe outside of our universe? Is there really an outside to our observable patch of the universe? 

According to NASA Administrator, Bill Nelson, “personally I don’t think we are alone. The universe is so big, it’s 13 and a half billion years ago is when the universe started. That’s pretty big”. 

What then lies beyond this universe? Obviously, mankind is quite anxious to know, and overtime, scientists have studied the universe and its nature and have come up with 5 theories that tends to explain what lies beyond this universe. 

First of all, what exactly is the universe? What are the things that makes up this very universe, in other words, the observable universe? As I pointed earlier, our universe is said to be over 13 billion years old. The simple implication of this is that somethings have been completely unobservable to us since the inception of our universe until they have enough time to travel to us. In other words, you can’t have access to a parcel that hasn’t showed up yet. 

That said, the observable universe then are everything that we’ve been able to see or observe thus far. Simply put, the observable universe makes up those visible region of space to us from earth. The space, vacuum, time, matter spread across 93 billion light years. 

So, the question is, if one is to go beyond this region, this accessible and observable entity, what lies therein? Something timeless? Colorless? Shapeless? Something that is nothing?

Hollow Vacuum 

This very theory simply opines that what lies out there is most likely to be an infinite hollow vacuum. Just a completely empty space of nothing. How reliable this theory is remains to be seen. It’s quite difficult to believe in the existence of an infinite space, but when you consider the fact that astronomers, in 2008, discovered that galactic clusters were sort of all gliding massively in two million miles per hour speed in the same direction. Further observation two years later appropriated this occurrence which was termed as Dark Flow. What this ultimately means is that the structure of this unobservable universe beyond can be said to be structure-less, uninformed which in turn means it can simply be anything. 

The Infinite Bubbles

This theory was propounded from the aftermath of The Big Bang Theory which by far remains the most popular and widely accepted theory in the world as it regards how our observable universe came to be simply because of found proof of cosmic microwave radiation. According to the Big Bang Theory, 13.8 billion years ago, our universe was just positioned in a really tiny point termed the initial singularity. Then all of a sudden, this tiny point exploded, (thus the name Big Bang) and emits immense amount of energy. So powerful was this explosion that all the matter from the center position were all scattered away, and later due to gravity, these matter converted into planets, galaxies, stars etc.

Now this is where the infinite bubble theory comes in, as according to this theory, the Big Bang expansion of the universe warranted some Bubbles space like structures. Invariably this meant that the clusters in our universe, the galaxies, are all inside a bubble, and subsequently have lots of these bubbles floating in the hyperspace. Each bubble formed its own universe.

The Fecund Universes Theory

Also known as the Black Hole theory proposed by Physicist Lee Smolin posits that the formation of a new universe is caused by every available black hole in our universe. 

Simply put, according to this theory, it’s possible that we are caught inside some huge hole, that every black hole in our universe have in it other universes. And apparently, that beyond our own universe might lie a much pretty much bigger universe. 

Beyond this Universe Lies More of Same Universe

This theory states that beyond our universe lies just some other batches of similar universe as ours. More galaxies, stars, clusters in an infinitely expanding space basically.

Multiverse Theory

According to the multiverse theory, which happens to be the most controversial and most popular theory ever proposed, our universe could just simply be a component or part of a much bigger structure, one that carries millions of universes floating around in some bubbles next to each other, and each comprising of some alternate reality.

So, in other words, what this theory is simply saying is, that there is another universe somewhere out there where your life exists exactly the same as it is now. Intriguing right? 

As per the multiverse theory, all these universes simply just floats around in empty space in close proximity to each other but totally unconnected, or disconnected to each other, and each one containing its own reality totally different from the other. This means something like this: in one you are a Pro football player, and in the other you are, let’s say a terrorist and enemy of the state, and yet in the other, you weren’t even born yet.

It’s said that in the multiverse, one can be able to transit into another reality through some wormhole. 

CONCLUSIVELY,

Whether it’s Infinite Bubbles, Empty Space of Nothingness, some galaxy inside or outside of a black hole, or the multiverse, all we still got at this point are mere speculations and theories about what truly lies beyond the universe.

It is fair to say, we still don’t know yet what the reality is. Maybe mankind haven’t looked deep enough, maybe we don’t have the sophisticated technology yet to be able to truly figure things out. 

That notwithstanding, scientists have never stopped seeking for answers to the question of what lies beyond our shores? We are quite optimistic that in no distant future we will unravel this age long mystery. After all, we have come a long way, we have kept pushing the boundaries, and have subsequently witnessed immense growth and transformation scientifically since the turn of the 20th century.

It’s only a matter of time and we would be able to know with all certainty WHAT TRULY LIES BEYOND THIS UNIVERSE.