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Q&A: Cosmology

Q:
Has the center of the known universe been located and, if so, where is it?

A:
This is a tough concept, and I think the true answer is that we don't know. Many astrophysicists would say that space is expanding something like a balloon expands - meaning that if you live on the surface of a balloon and it is getting blown up, you can run around on the surface and see that there is no center, only an expanding surface which looks the same from wherever you stand. So it may be that there is no center to our universe. NASA has a web site in which various astrophysicists have given answers to this question (or different versions of this question, like "where is the edge of the universe?") here:
http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/cosmology.html

But I think we don't know enough yet about our own universe to know if there is a center or not. A physicist has a web page on cosmology that is useful (but also tough unless you know some physics) and he does talk about whether there is a center of the universe or not, and whether we are in the center - he doesn't give any answers though! But if you'd like to take a look, here it is:
http://www.lifesci.sussex.ac.uk/home/John_Gribbin/cosmo.htm

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