Some useful links about: how big is the universe?
Something beyond visible universe detected?
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/080923_wmap.htm
Scientists have measured an unexpected motion in distant clusters of galaxies—possibly caused, they say, by the gravitational pull of something outside the visible universe. Alexander Kashlinsky of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center calls this collective motion a “dark flow,” in analogy with more familiar cosmological mysteries: dark energy and dark matter. “The distribution of matter in the observed universe cannot account for this motion” .
Hints of structure beyond the visible universe
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14098-hints-of-structure
Colossal structures larger than the visible universe may be responsible for a strange pattern seen in the big bang’s afterglow, says a team of cosmologists. The theory of inflation predicts that the mottling should be equally prominent in all directions. Curiously, it is 10% more pronounced on one side of the sky than the other.
‘Axis of evil’ a cause for cosmic concern
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19425994.000-axis-of-evil
According to the standard model, the universe is isotropic, or much the same everywhere. However, in 2005, Kate Land and João Magueijo of Imperial College London noticed a curious pattern in the map of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). It seemed to show that some hot and cold spots in the CMB are not distributed randomly, as expected, but are aligned along what Magueijo dubbed the axis of evil.
A far cry – Echoes are arriving from beyond the visible Universe
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15721223.200-a-far-cry
Astronomers calculate that some gamma-ray bursts originate much farther away than the most distant detectable galaxy, and that the bursts emit 1000 times as much radiation as a supernova explosion.
How Big is the Universe? by Brent Tully
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/universe/howbig.html
How big is the universe? Could it be infinitely large? If the universe has an edge, what is beyond the edge? And if the universe had a beginning, what was going on before that?
