The Journey:

Since the dawn of time, humans have wondered what the galaxies have held. People have only traveled so far as the moon, and robots have stayed within the Milky Way while still in use. We can see outside of our galaxy, but what do the far corners of the universe hold? No one knows a definitive answer to this; there are only theories that make somewhat logical sense (then again, it is thought that black holes break the laws of physics, especially once matter goes past the event horizon. So, obviously scientists could be way off on all of these). In order to prove any of these theories, of course, we would have to travel to the edges of our universe, a feat not easy to achieve.

If one defines the edge of the universe by what we can physically see, then you are a Solipsist. Solipsism is the philosophy that only one’s own mind truly exists; everything else is created by your mind. If you are a Solipsist, then the edge of the universe is 45 billion light years away. That is equal to 270 sextillion miles (a number with twenty-one zeros at the end). One of the fastest moving spacecrafts we currently have is New Horizons, a craft that was launched on 19 January, 2006. On 14 July, 2015, it reached Pluto, which was part of its main mission. New Horizons speed is about 15.73 kilometers per second, or 35,187 miles per hour. If we had a spacecraft going that constant speed, it would take 875,946,167,852,308 years to reach the edge of our viewable universe. To give you a perspective on that, human life has been around for about 200,000 years. The trip would take 4,379,730,839 times that. (All of this is from our perspective on Earth).

The best way to accomplish this goal of reaching the edge of the viewable universe would be to create a large spacecraft that could hold an entire civilization. Of course, this already brings up several issues. What would we use for fuel? Nuclear power, most likely, but then we risk a galactic Chernobyl (although, nuclear power is not that dangerous. We just know the tragedies caused by the power source). It doesn’t take a lot of plutonium and uranium to run a nuclear power plant, so that should be fairly easy. But then what do we do with the nuclear waste? Throw it out into space? That could easily mess with the surrounding galaxies, stars, planets, etc. What if disease breaks out, like a pandemic? Then either we find a cure for it on the ship (this means we would need a hospital wing and a laboratory), or we all die on the craft and it flies itself into oblivion. What about food? The food we bring would eventually run out, but we could have a greenhouse farm. What if war breaks out? It could be with aliens, but if they don’t exist then what about civil war? That could potentially set the trip back, or even ruin it all together.

I could go on about that, but I think you get the point. All of this is based on the idea that the edge of our viewable universe is the end of it. But what if it’s not? That is honestly the most likely answer, that the universe continues past that point. So, what does that mean for our journey? Well, to be honest, the universe would probably be destroyed before any of this were to happen. But that doesn’t mean we can’t theorize, right?

The theories:

Since we will probably never see the edge of the universe, scientists create theories about what we would see. One theory is that the universe is a giant loop, where, if you go far enough, you will end up right back where you started. This essentially means there is no “edge,” just that the universe is one round being.

There is also a theory that ties into singularity, a subject I wrote about a few days ago. Basically, this theory says that we would see another universe at the edge of our own. If you recall, singularity is the point within a black hole where the laws of physics are broken and anything inside of it becomes a one-dimensional object. Well, since no one has actually been inside a black hole (and has lived to tell about it), some believe that it leads to another universe. If this is true, then once we reach the edge of our universe, we should see the event horizon of a black hole located inside of a different universe.

Then there are people who believe that nothing outside of our own consciousness exists, so there is nothing at the edge of the universe. Some believe that at the edge of our universe is Heaven; others believe it’s just a blank white space, void of anything.

Finally, there is the theory that contradicts the question itself: the universe has no end. According to scientists, the universe is ever expanding (or collapsing, tip of the hat to the Big Crunch). New planets, stars, and galaxies are constantly being formed, so the universe is probably starting to feel a bit “cramped”. Because of this, it is possible that the universe is expanding outwards to make more room for the new astrological phenomena.

All of these, I should say, are theories. None of these theories have been proven, but the brightest minds in science have created them. These theories are closest ideas we have.

Shape of the universe:

It is difficult to know exactly what the edge of the universe holds, especially when we don't even know what the shape of our galaxy is. Is our universe shaped like a ball? A flat surface? Or does it bend and twist? No one is quite sure, although astrophysicist Alexander Kashlinsky discovered that something from beyond the edge seems to be pulling on powerful galaxies in our universe in a motion he calls “dark flow.” This adds to the evidence that our planet is shaped with an edge, possibly disproving the loop/sphere theory of our universe’s shape.

The point is we have no idea what is at the edge of the universe. It is fun to hypothesize, though.