mike bower
Sep 1, 2018 · 1 min read

A layman confused

It would appear the concenus for the existence of our current universe is around somewhere in the region of 13.8 billion years of age. I do not dispute this simply because I do not have the knoowledge to do so.

My confusion lies with the above mentioned timescale when taken alongside the claimed reality that, using our best scientific advances we can currently view our universe for some 46 billion light years. I am further advised this figure may well change over time with new developing systems that may or may not shortly be coming online.

Taking these two statements together creates issues within my layman mind and it is these I would like to clear up as I am clearly missing something. Maybe it is inflation the cause or something else, either way it is certainly not something I can get my head around.

So, back to the matter in hand. If the current universe is aged 13.8 billion years how is it we can see 46 billion years distance, this being the distance light, travelling at the speed of 186,000 mps has travelled in the same timescale (46 billion years). Surely this in itself suggests our universe is older than the currently suggested 13.8 billion years.

Now I am sure many cosmologists do not suffer the same mental block as I do in this regard, but ever willing to understand my own misconceptions I would love someone to answer my question in as simplified way as possible that I can fully inderstand the errors of my thinking.