To the Ends of the Universe

Abstract

We turn finally to the universe as a whole. Turbulence, as we will see, also plays an important role here. We begin by asking: What does the universe on the grandest scale look like? In other words, if we could somehow step back from it and take a look, what would we see? In the last few years, astronomers have been able to do this, and they have found a fascinating structure. You would, of course, expect voids and superclusters. But they have found much more. The whole universe seems to be filled with voids; in fact, they are more like gigantic bubbles. And strung along the surface of these bubbles are superclusters. It sounds crazy, but on this scale, the universe looks like a sink full of soapsuds.