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The universe must be older than ~14bn years?

We see the visible universe to be roughly 46.5bn light years in radius. Based on that we calculate the age. It's also said that there is no center of the universe and that from every point the universe would look the same. Fair enough. Now let's get to a galaxy at 45bn light  years distance and let's see how far can they watch around them? Also 46.5bn light years I suppose? And what if 'they' look at the same direction as we do, them being only a 'window' to look through? Would we not encounter a total of 91.5bn light years of universe 'ahead' of us? And based on that simple deduction would that not also mean the universe is just way much older than ~14bn years?

1 Answer

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  • Every volume in the universe is expanding, not just it's "outer edge".

    Therefore the perceived expansion is cumulative with distance.

    If you have a one foot ruler, and every inch on the ruler expands by a half inch per day, then how long is the ruler after a day?

    Correct answer is 18 inches.

    Incorrect answer is 12.5 inches

    So that is why the correct answer for the universe after 14 billion years is about 96 billion light years.

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