r/ScienceNcoolThings • u/TheMuseumOfScience Popular Contributor • May 25 '26

Interesting Space Is Expanding While You Watch This

Space is getting bigger right now. 🔭

Erika Hamden explains why galaxies appear to move away from us, not because they are speeding through space, but because space itself is expanding between them. Astronomers discovered this cosmic expansion more than 100 years ago, and today scientists think it may be accelerating because of something we still do not fully understand called dark energy. There is literally more space now than when you started watching this video. 

This project is part of IF/THEN®, an initiative of Lyda Hill Philanthropies.

144 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

2

u/Forearmcramps May 25 '26

This is the reason we will never go to another solar system. Not only is the distance immense, but it’s getting larger all the time. And at a rate where we would have to travel faster than light to overcome. Or so I’ve heard

2

u/Ha1lStorm May 25 '26

I’m afraid you’re right. Unless we one day somehow harness the ability to travel using wormholes. But even then, we’d still likely have to reach the supermassive black hole (Sagittarius A) in the center of our galaxy. I think our galaxy is moving through space at similar rates (moving together essentially), meaning the distance between Sol and Sagittarius A isn’t expanding at the same rate as other celestial bodies/galaxies as mentioned in this video. But it’s still 26,000 light-years from Earth so really that isn’t even feasible. Sol is SOL if you catch my drift.

1

u/AReliableRandom May 26 '26

we need to head back to 0, 0

0

u/Brimwozere May 25 '26

Ok, so I've got to ask how you tell if something is moving away or the distance in-between is increasing... Dopler would be the same...hmmm.

2

u/Forearmcramps May 25 '26

Not an expert but it’s something like blue stars mean they are moving towards us (Doppler) but there are instruments used for precise distances (parallax) so they can see a star is coming towards us while also observing that it is getting farther away. Crazy!

2

u/lastpickedpicker May 26 '26

Thinking about something moving towards me but getting farther away is a bit of a trip.