is space wider on the side or top to bottom?

[Biftheunderstudy]

The moons orbit is getting larger by the year because of the effect of the tides and the dragging effect this has. Something like 1 million years from now the day will be and hour shorter or some other rediculousness(I think I just made a Bushism). Eventually the tide dragging effect will cause the moon to be in a geosyncronous orbit and the earth will continue to spin unimpeded.

I would think slight perturations from the other planets and the sun may be having a similar effect on the earth's orbit except much weaker but I am not sure on this point.

Interestingly, the orbits of the planets are a chaotic system, ie. we can't accurately predict what the stability of the solar system will be on long timescales. Fear not though these timescales are many billions of years, in fact, the time scale for Jupiter is longer than the age of the universe and we're pretty sure nothing crazy is going to happen any time soon....unless something unpredicted like a close encounter from a star......

Now to this 'What lies beyond nonsense?'
The question of what lies beyond is not a valid question since to have a beyond there would have to be more space for something to lie in. The spacial extent of our universe is all there is, no more.

 

[Cogman]

...The question of what lies beyond is not a valid question since to have a beyond there would have to be more space for something to lie in. The spacial extent of our universe is all there is, no more.

So the real question is, what prevents us from going beyond the limit? or even seeing beyond the limit. For example, if we traveled to the very edge of the universe in an unexplicable speed and stood at the very edge of the ever expanding universe, what would prevent us from going that bit further. Mind you that seeing past there would require light which would expand the universe further.

 

[IEC]

Originally posted by: icarus4586

Originally posted by: DrPizza
Before I worried about the sun expanding and swallowing the Earth, I'd worry about the Andromeda galaxy passing through our neck of the woods, tugging a bunch of comets, etc., out of the outer reaches of our solar system, to become crashed into us.

Haha! I personally have always been worried about ze polar icescapes melting and ze ozone layer leaving.

But I'm le tired. Well take a nap, then FIRE ZE MISSILES!

:laugh:

 

[WildHorse]

is space wider on the side or top to bottom?

Mistaken anthropomorphic assumption that you can apply inherently limited categories fabricated in your mind to the perhaps unlimited cosmos.

 

[Kwatt]

Originally posted by: fire400
lastly, does the Universe have an atmoshpere? how long do we have until the sun bursts?

how many years do we have left before our genes break down and we become zombies?

lastly, does the Universe have an atmoshpere?

Atmosphere is gases surrounding something that has enough gravity to attract the gases and hold them. So space has no atmosphere.

But, space is not empty. A pure vacuum does not exist in nature. There are (if I remember correctly) an average of 8-10 hydrogen atoms per cubic foot. Thus the theory behind the hydrogen ramjet.


Then again I may be getting my Science confused with my Science-Fiction......


Kwatt