Scientists have now come to discover that the universe is expanding at a rate which is ever increasing. This may be defined as ballooning, and the universe is ballooning in all three dimensions.

Beyond the universe is a term which is hard to define. If one uses the term ‘beyond the universe’, it would imply that the universe has an edge.

An image of the entire observable universe by NASA

This is the tricky part, because the scientists aren’t sure if there are any boundaries to the universe.

The edge of the universe can only be explained in the context in which the question has been presented.

Let us consider the question that is it possible to go to a place which empowers one to look beyond the universe? This would be in the same way as one looks beyond a cliff or peeps outside a building.

The answer to this is probably not.

This may be explained in a scientific way as well, with the implements of the cosmological principle. As per the cosmological principal, if we go to any part of the universe and see the distribution of matter, it looks more or less the same as any other part. The universe is hence isotropic.

The cosmological principal has arisen from the idea that laws of physics are the same, irrespective of the part of universe that we take into consideration. The local variations exist, nevertheless, in terms of galaxies, stars and clusters. But when we average these keeping the large chunks of universe into consideration, there is no place which is too different from any other place.

This implies that there is no edge to the universe. There is no spot where the universe ceases and stops being. We cannot go over there and look at what lies beyond the universe.

The surface of a balloon is an analogy that is very often used to describe the edgeless universe. Suppose we put an ant over the surface of an inflated balloon. The ant can walk in any direction. To the ant, it would seem that the surface is unbounded.

The ant may even return to a point where it initially started from, but it would feel that there is no end to the journey.

The surface of a balloon is a finite number of square units. But there is still no edge on it. It doesn’t have a center either. It is hence not possible to figure out a preferred point over the spherical surface of a balloon.

The universe is also a version of the balloon’s skin in 3 dimensions.

A question that comes to the mind is if the universe has no end and no edge, then how it is expanding.

This can once again be explained by using the balloon analogy.

If there is an ant on the balloon and we blow some additional air into it, the ant would feel that all objects are moving farther. The farther away an ant is from an object, the faster it would recede.

It also does not matter where the ant is placed on the balloon. The objects that recede follow the same relation. The things would be the same, at all places over the surface of the balloon.

There is a very slight glitch over here, which makes it difficult to comprehend the universe as the surface of a balloon. When balloons are blown up, they expand into a 3 dimensional space. This is a concept that does not apply to the universe.

If we go by the definition of a universe, it contains everything that is there. Hence there is no outside.  

As per the physicist Stephen hawking, this entire question does not make sense. The reason behind this is if the universe had arose from nothing, and if it is what has bought everything into existence, then trying to figure out what lies beyond the universe is odd. It is like asking what lies towards the north of North Pole.

As per Dr. Katie Mack, who is a theoretical astrophysicist in University of Melbourne in Australia, it is better to present the hypothesis as Universe is getting less dense, rather than that the universe is expanding. It would hence be right to say that the concentration of matter is getting less dense as the universe is expanding.

It is not as though galaxies are moving away from each other through space. It is the space itself that is getting larger.

The conclusion would be the same irrespective of the part of the universe one observes it from.

Since the space is in a state of expansion, then it may be possible for the distant objects to appear that they are moving very fast, faster than the speed of light. This would not violate the theory of relativity, according to which, nothing can move faster than the speed of light in vacuum.

If we consider the observable size of the universe, it is 46 billion light years, in any direction. This is even though the universe started only 13.8 years ago.

This still sets limits over the size of the universe as humans see it. This is known as the observable universe. Anything that lies beyond the radius of 46 billion light years is not visible to human beings, and never will be. The reason behind this is that is that the rate of expansion of the universe at this spot is faster than what is necessary for light beams to get to earth.

Another important scientific idea is that the rate of expansion of the universe has not been uniform. After the big bang took place, then for a brief fraction of a second, there was an accelerated expansion, which is also known as inflation. During this phase, the universe grew at a brisker pace than it grows now.

The Big Bang

Now if we assume that inflation did happen, it implies that the universe is 10²³ times larger than the observable universe, which spans to 46 billion light years that we can see.

It is hence safe to assume that there is no edge of the universe. The universe is larger than what human beings will ever be able to observe.