Question related to tv show How the Universe Works

[ko_kyi]

This is probably a really stupid question, but I don't know where else to ask it.

I am a layman watching Science channel, the show "How the Universe Works" episode called Alien Galaxies. In it they described the large scale structure of the universe, and talked about the Sloan Wall, which is +100 billion light-years across. A quick wiki search says that an estimate of the age of the universe since the big bang is 14 billion years, more or less. How the hell can objects made of matter be 100 billion light-years apart in a 15 billion year old universe, if matter can't travel faster than light?

Thanks in advance for indulging my question.

 

[Curl]

You are watching BS. It draws in viewers so they include it on TV, that's what television is all about.

 

[Vulgar]

I think in the very early stages, they presume that the universe expanded faster than the speed of light in the inflation theory

 

[JaredJames]

You are watching BS. It draws in viewers so they include it on TV, that's what television is all about.

In your own thread on solar roads you claim others who ignore details are "ignorant on all levels" and then you go and do the same here.

The age of the universe is not the same as the size of the universe.

The observable universe is thus a sphere with a diameter of about 28 billion parsecs (9.3 × 10¹⁰ light years).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observable_universe#Size

That's 93 billion light years across - and this only the observable universe.

This is down to the expansion of the universe.

Although two objects can be moving away from each other slower than the speed of light, the space inbetween them expands - giving the appearance they are traveling faster than the speed of light and increasing the distance between them further than would be possible in the given travel time.

If you imagine two objects stationary in space relative to each other, with the space between them expanding at a rate of 1m per year. After a million years they'll be 1,000,000m further apart than they originally were without ever moving.

 

[tiny-tim]

hi ko_kyi!

see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observable_Universe#Size"