The Edge of an Infinite Universe

PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to: http://to.pbs.org/DonateSPACE ↓ More info below ↓ Have you ever asked “what is beyond the edge of the universe?” And have you ever been told that an infinite universe that has no edge? You were told wrong. In a sense. We can define a boundary to an infinite universe, at least mathematically. And it turns out that boundary may be as real or even more real than the universe it contains. Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord! https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetime Sign up for the mailing list to get episode notifications and hear special announcements! https://mailchi.mp/1a6eb8f2717d/spacetime Check out the Space Time Merch Store https://pbsspacetime.com/ #infinitity #edgeoftheuniverse #spacetime Learn More About Dark Energy Here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list... Hosted by Matt O'Dowd Written by Matt O'Dowd Graphics by Aaron Halevy Directing by Andrew Kornhaber Our universe may be infinite. In order to wrap our puny human minds around such a notion we like to come up with boundaries. For example we have the “observable universe” – that patch that we can see, and beyond which light has not yet had time to reach us. It’s boundary is called the particle horizon. Beyond it there exists at a minimum of thousands and possibly infinitely more regions just as large. Our observable universe is like a tiny patch of land in a vast plain. We define its horizon like we might build a little picket fence around our little patch – meaningless from the point of view of the plain, but it makes our patch feel more homey and us less crushingly insignificant. Special thanks to our Patreon Big Bang, Quasar and Hypernova Supporters: Big Bang: Anton Lifshits coolascats David Nicklas Fabrice Eap Juan Benet Justin Lloyd Tim Davis Quasar: James Flowers Mark Rosenthal Tambe Barsbay Vinnie Falco Hypernova: chuck zegar Danton Spivey Donal Botkin Edmund Fokschaner Jens Theisen John Hofmann Jordan Young Joseph Salomone kkm Mark Heising Matthew O'Connor Thanks to our Patreon Gamma Ray Burst Supporters: Alexey Eromenko Andreas Nautsch Antonio Ruiz Bradley Jenkins Brandon Labonte Buruk Aregawi Carlo Mogavero Daniel Lyons David Behtala David Crane David Schmidt Dustan Jones Geoffrey Short Greg Weiss Jack Frosch James Hughes James Quintero Jinal Doshi JJ Bagnell John Webber Jon Folks Jonah Joseph Emison Josh Thomas Kenneth F Leonard Kevin Warne Kyle Hofer Malte Ubl Mark Vasile Nathan Hitchings Nicholas Rose Nick Virtue Ratfeast Richard Broman Scott Gossett Sigurd Ruud Frivik Tim Crookham Tim Stephani Tommy Mogensen سلطان الخليفي Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices