"The Principal" - Earth center of universe?

[Ken]

One of the odder things to emerge from present-day science is that the solar system indeed does appear to be at the centre of the universe, at least in any way the universe could be described as having a centre.

How do you figure? We are not even remotely close to the center of our own galaxy.

[ken_sylvania]

One of the odder things to emerge from present-day science is that the solar system indeed does appear to be at the centre of the universe, at least in any way the universe could be described as having a centre.

How do you figure? We are not even remotely close to the center of our own galaxy.

Where is the Milky Way in relation to the entirety of the universe?

[Ken]

Where is the Milky Way in relation to the entirety of the universe?

That isn't my area of science at all. But two answers are: http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/about- ... termediate

It is difficult to say where in relation to the universe the Milky Way is located since we don't think that the Universe has a center, and that (on large enough) scales it is completely homogeneous (i.e. is made of mostly the same stuff) and isotropic (i.e. doesn't change depending on the direction you look). On smaller scales the Universe contains a lot of structure (for example us!). The largest known structures are the superclusters of galaxies which form at the nodes of the filamentary-like distribution of galaxies throughout the Universe (see here). The Milky Way galaxy is found in a small group of galaxies (known as the Local Group) towards the edge of a relatively small supercluster which we call the Local Supercluster (or sometimes the Virgo Supercluster after the Virgo Cluster, the largest cluster of galaxies in it).

and: https://www.livescience.com/62547-what- ... verse.html

The universe, in fact, has no center. Ever since the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago, the universe has been expanding. But despite its name, the Big Bang wasn't an explosion that burst outward from a central point of detonation. The universe started out extremely compact and tiny. Then every point in the universe expanded equally, and that continues today. And so, without any point of origin, the universe has no center.

One way to think about this is to imagine a two-dimensional ant that lives on the surface of a perfectly spherical balloon. From the ant's point of view, everywhere on the surface looks the same. There is no center on the sphere's surface, nor is there an edge.

[Josh]

and: https://www.livescience.com/62547-what- ... verse.html

The universe, in fact, has no center. Ever since the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago, the universe has been expanding. But despite its name, the Big Bang wasn't an explosion that burst outward from a central point of detonation. The universe started out extremely compact and tiny. Then every point in the universe expanded equally, and that continues today. And so, without any point of origin, the universe has no center.

One way to think about this is to imagine a two-dimensional ant that lives on the surface of a perfectly spherical balloon. From the ant's point of view, everywhere on the surface looks the same. There is no center on the sphere's surface, nor is there an edge.

Do you have any evidence for that?

For example, the theory above claims that most of the universe (95%) is either "dark matter" or "dark energy", i.e., mass that cannot be observed. That makes me rather sceptical any of the above claims are true.

The truth is, nobody really has any idea what the topology of the universe is, outside of what we can observe in our own solar system, and even there are observations are rather limited. Recall how loony the predictions were of Mars and Venus before we sent exploratory landers there.

[Ken]

and: https://www.livescience.com/62547-what- ... verse.html

The universe, in fact, has no center. Ever since the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago, the universe has been expanding. But despite its name, the Big Bang wasn't an explosion that burst outward from a central point of detonation. The universe started out extremely compact and tiny. Then every point in the universe expanded equally, and that continues today. And so, without any point of origin, the universe has no center.

One way to think about this is to imagine a two-dimensional ant that lives on the surface of a perfectly spherical balloon. From the ant's point of view, everywhere on the surface looks the same. There is no center on the sphere's surface, nor is there an edge.

Do you have any evidence for that?

For example, the theory above claims that most of the universe (95%) is either "dark matter" or "dark energy", i.e., mass that cannot be observed. That makes me rather sceptical any of the above claims are true.

The truth is, nobody really has any idea what the topology of the universe is, outside of what we can observe in our own solar system, and even there are observations are rather limited. Recall how loony the predictions were of Mars and Venus before we sent exploratory landers there.

I'm not an astronomer and I can't pretend to even begin to explain all the science behind current theories related to the size and shape of the universe. I do expect that they are based on the best available science we have today. And like all scientific theories will be refined and/or superseded as science continues to advance. That is the story of the history of science and partly what makes it interesting. We are never *done* learning new things.