fattyjwoods Posted August 9, 2007 Posted August 9, 2007 As in can you travel downwards. If you can what is downwards and if you cant what happens if you get in your spaceship and go downwards. Is there like planets and suns below us?
insane_alien Posted August 9, 2007 Posted August 9, 2007 well, in space there isn't really an up or down unless you account for the direction of the local gravitational force or you could take it as the opposite direction from which your head is pointing. we are surrounded by stars planets and galaxies so inwhich ever direction you got you will likely encounter stars and planets.
Sisyphus Posted August 9, 2007 Posted August 9, 2007 "Flat" just means that matter is more or less evenly distributed throughout the universe if you look at it on a big enough scale, and that space does not have an "overall" curve in any direction. There is no "down."
fattyjwoods Posted August 11, 2007 Author Posted August 11, 2007 thanks, but what happens when you travel down then? do you hit a imaginary wall?
Steph Posted August 11, 2007 Posted August 11, 2007 i would think nothing really special (aside from the distance you travelled and the fact that you would be very very lonely) happens.
insane_alien Posted August 11, 2007 Posted August 11, 2007 there is no down fatty. we just explained that to you. there is no absolute direction just like there is no preffered reference frame.
Daecon Posted August 11, 2007 Posted August 11, 2007 The Universe is 3 dimensional, which means you can move in 3 directions which are all 90 degrees away from each other, to cover the most distance from any other direction. You can also go "backwards" along those 3 orientations, meaning that from whichever direction you're facing, there are 6 ways you can go to cover the largest distance from your point of origin. There are also galaxies and things in each of those six directions, so from the perspective of somebody floating in space, you still still find galaxies if you go forward-backward / side-to-side / up-down, no matter where your eyes happen to be looking to any point in the Universe. THAT'S why there is no real "direction" in the Universe. Although our Galaxy has a "flat" disc-like shape, but that has nothing to do with the Universe in general. There are still many solar systems at any cross-section along the Galaxy's "thickness", with a larger "bulge" in the middle... kinda like a fried egg, but unlike a fried egg, the bulge isn't on one "side" of the Galaxy, it's all the way through. Does that help make things clearer?
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