For us, it might as well be. Infinity, zero, any other value. We can’t measure what’s outside of the observable universe, by definition, so we can’t confirm any theories with an experiment.
Our models do not specify a shape for the universe, because we have not seen any evidence for a spatial (as opposed to temporal) limit to how big the universe is.
In fact, we infer that since what we can see becomes homogenous on a surprisingly small scale, the whole infinite universe is similarly filled with galactic clusters, and thus there is an (unreachable) infinite number of galaxies.
This quickly gets into the weeds of “can we even say trees fall in the forests of planets no humans will ever observe”, possibly followed by an argument over if infinites are equal or comparable.
Sorry, I don’t understand. Surely the number of galaxies is not infinite?
For us, it might as well be. Infinity, zero, any other value. We can’t measure what’s outside of the observable universe, by definition, so we can’t confirm any theories with an experiment.
Our models do not specify a shape for the universe, because we have not seen any evidence for a spatial (as opposed to temporal) limit to how big the universe is.
In fact, we infer that since what we can see becomes homogenous on a surprisingly small scale, the whole infinite universe is similarly filled with galactic clusters, and thus there is an (unreachable) infinite number of galaxies.
This quickly gets into the weeds of “can we even say trees fall in the forests of planets no humans will ever observe”, possibly followed by an argument over if infinites are equal or comparable.
The actual size of the universe is actually not measurable. It exceeds the distance that we can observe because off the speed of light.
It might be infinite and we can never know if we measure it using light.