▲ 0 r/universe
The true size of the universe
Is earth 1/10th of the size of the observable universe? My friend just said it is and im confused
u/Economy-Wallaby-1000 — 13 hours ago
r/universe
MeerKAT’s New Map of a Nearby Galaxy Is Revealing What Older Surveys Missed - Research Today
researchtoday.co.zau/CandyFangs — 6 hours ago
Megarkol: What a Truly Super-Advanced Civilization Looks Like—and Why It Might Be an Existential Threat to Us
Most civilizations in the universe must endure a very long struggle for survival under harsh conditions. They must overcome various catastrophes, but above all, the most fundamental threat of all: self-destruction. This is a challenge virtually every emerging intelligence faces, and humanity is no exception.
Once a civilization reaches the point where it successfully overcomes these hurdles and the danger of self-destruction, the process of its expansion into deep space begins.
The Road to Reshaping a Star System
The first step is usually the gradual colonization of foreign objects like moons, followed by larger planets. Another major leap forward is extracting raw materials and matter from asteroids, moons, and eventually the planets themselves.
A super-advanced civilization does not appear overnight; it evolves over millions of years. Step by step, it masters advanced technologies, such as building massive cylindrical rings around planets to create new living habitats.
Then comes the third major turning point: the civilization learns to siphon plasma directly from its own star and arrives at the most radical solution. When they realize their star system faces eventual decay, they deploy a technology functioning like an ultra-advanced cosmic 3D printer. This colossal machine deconstructs every planet orbiting the star down to fundamental particles, using that raw mass to build something far more complex—a megastructure called Megarkol.
Megarkol and the Multidimensional Foam "Aquatium"
Megarkol is a series of massive cylindrical rings built in sequence around the central star. The entire star is sealed within a specialized plasma containment shell that feeds the civilization energy for billions of years. These vast rings orbit the dark plasmatic core, generating mutual gravitational pull, and are interconnected by flexible filaments that serve as vital logistical transit hubs.
The internal volume of a single cylinder spans millions of kilometers, creating an enormous living space:
- Dismantling Planets: By gradually harvesting all planets, moons, and asteroids in the system, the civilization can build six to seven massive rings. The first ring alone provides enough living space for an unfathomable number of beings.
- Multidimensional Foam (Aquatium): The inhabitants use a specialized translucent foam called Aquatium to generate mega-space within space, doubling or even tripling the internal physical volume. Viewed from the outside as an overhead observer, the landscape and cities below appear as if seen through a giant magnifying glass.
- A Flawless Biosphere Inside: Once you pass through the foam directly into the interior, you enter a fully realized world featuring artificial suns, dense forests, oceans with beaches, lakes, and crystal-clear rivers.
- Standard of Living and Environmental Control: Citizens live in expansive villas and palaces with vast private grounds. They enjoy a high standard of living and complete control over their environment: day/night cycles can be set to 24 hours or adjusted to entirely custom planetary calendars, and weather—such as gentle rain—can be scheduled exclusively for specific nighttime hours.
Would Such a Civilization Pose a Threat to Us?
By dismantling its own star system, the civilization achieves complete energy and material self-sufficiency for billions of years. From this perspective, they do not need us at all, and humanity holds zero interest for them.
The existential risk, however, lies in the fact that they do not tolerate competition. To leave nothing to chance and prevent other species from ever reaching a similar technological level, they may choose to neutralize potential rivals preemptively.
Indistinguishable from a Black Hole
After billions of years, when the civilization eventually exhausts the matter from its native system, it begins slowly and steadily siphoning mass from neighboring star systems. At this stage:
- Black Hole Camouflage: To an outside observer, their plasma-shrouded star and gravitational presence look almost identical to a black hole.
- Virtually Undetectable: Thanks to spacetime warping, dimensional manipulation, and the plasma shield, the civilization remains invisible to standard observation.
- How to Detect Them: The only way to spot such an ancient civilization is by observing stars that lose mass at a far slower, more controlled pace than what would occur near a natural black hole.
Attempting to establish contact with such an entity, however, would carry catastrophic risk.
Note on Creative Process :
This concept, story, and worldbuilding are 100% my original creation. AI tools were used solely for grammar corrections, translation, and text styling. The accompanying illustrations and visuals were 100% generated by AI based strictly on my original author concepts and detailed creative prompts.
https://reddit.com/link/1vqysy4/video/97j6vidozyjh1/player
https://reddit.com/link/1vqysy4/video/krrbuslpzyjh1/player
u/PKent7730 — 7 hours ago
▲ 9 r/universe
Made this Eagle Nebula poster, thoughts?
I made this Eagle Nebula poster using NASA imagery and my own design/layout.
This poster was not made with AI‼️
I’m thinking about doing more space posters in this style, and I’m curious whether people would actually want something like this on their wall.
If this was a good-quality matte A3 print, what would you realistically pay for it?
Any feedback welcome.
u/Electronic-Ask-8123 — 13 hours ago
▲ 0 r/universe
Don’t know if it’s ever been said before. We are living fossils of dead stars!
reddit.comu/premiumbeans — 1 day ago
Hi — nonfiction author heading toward self-pub, would love blunt feedback on my site (and a gut-check on a rule-breaking cover)
Hey everyone — glad to have found this sub. I've spent the last while writing my first book, a nonfiction / popular-science book about a simple question: if space is so huge and full of planets, why does it look empty — and why, after decades of searching, have we never found anyone?
Heading into self-publishing soon, so expect me back here with a steady stream of questions over the coming days. Consider this the "hi, be gentle" post.
Two things I'd genuinely value input on:
1. The pre-release website.
I built a companion site with some interactive bits — a live exoplanet counter, a "Great Filter calculator" you can run your own assumptions through. I'd love sincere feedback: does it make you want to read the book, does anything feel confusing or overbuilt, is a newsletter signup even worth having. Tell me what you'd cut.
2. The cover. I know it breaks more or less every cover "rule" in the book — genre signaling, thumbnail readability, all of it. I love it, a few friends who've seen it love it too, but "I love it" and "a stranger scrolling will click it" are different bars. For people who've been through this: how much does an off-convention cover actually cost you in practice? Regret-it mistake, or not the most important factor??
u/no3us — 2 days ago
▲ 0 r/universe
I think I’ve figured out how wormholes are created and how we could use them for space travel.
so this is my simple thesis dumb thesis .
you and me both know wormhole is simple folding of space fabric and it touch 2 point and that is wormhole.
so let take simple example,
imagin there is a massive bomb in middle of space (supernova) if it blast it shockwave is similar to bomb blast and bomb blast make wave if the wave become to big it upper end touch the ground. and that can be a wormhole ( see image ).
by taking same principle if there are big blast in space at random location and space is go big that maybe we wont be felling anything but what if the blast create the wave and make wormhole
u/theycallme-gingerman — 3 days ago
all these radioactive materials wasnt meant for humans but space craft
radiation the most deadly killer that is silent you dont feel touch it. it touch you. from back in the day radium girls who thought that glowing subtance was upcoming disco to those mexicans finding same kinda color in some script yard all sign their death warrant even some mess with demon core show you close get criticality. all make me think . we use nuclear energy cause is cleaning then our or dirty way getting energy and yet more deadlier . these subtances they call going thru half life give off so much energy it goes right thru you and your cells /maybe we wasnt suppose to have this power . we cant even touch it got have on gear. maybe it another purpose for those who was here before us. space craft can use this energy . think doc on back to the future . according to that movie only way open up time travel portal is with nuclear power. even star trek agrees with this. so im thinking all this radiation is killing us cus we dont suppose to have its for the aliens and their space craft and unless you got a time machine you should not be no where near this stuff
u/SnooOpinions8660 — 3 days ago
August 12 eclipse composition
This is my first eclipse and I really like how this turned out and I hope y'all like it as much as I do
:)
All images were shot on a canon 4000D and a 75-300mm lens and edited on affinity
u/Alta1r13 — 4 days ago
▲ 9 r/universe
questions about expanding universe
we were told by neil degrasse tyson (i assumed) that the universe is expanding infinitely. and that our solar system is moving along with the expansion. if this is true, does that make everything is moving along with the expansion including the stars from anywhere? cuz if not, this leads to my second question. if the stars dont move along with the expansion, how do we see the same stars in our night skies?
u/Ill_Plantain9034 — 4 days ago
▲ 0 r/universe
Intelligent life - radio waves
We have not detected any radio waves from outside of earth
Would it be fair so state that, until proven otherwise , the default position is we are the most intelligent life form in the universe ?
u/HanesPrydain — 6 days ago
▲ 43 r/universe
Why Does the Universe Exist at All?
This is perhaps the deepest question in both physics and philosophy: Why is there something rather than absolutely nothing?
In physics, “nothing” isn't necessarily absolute nothingness. Even a quantum vacuum contains fields and physical structure. So the deeper question becomes:
Why are there space, time, matter, energy, quantum fields, and physical laws at all?
Some cosmological models suggest that the universe could emerge through a quantum process. One possibility is that the universe's total energy may be approximately zero, with positive energy in matter balanced by negative gravitational energy.
But that doesn't completely solve the mystery.
Because then we can ask:
Where did the laws that allowed that process come from?
The multiverse offers another possibility: perhaps our universe is one bubble among countless universes. But then the question simply moves one level deeper:
Why does the multiverse exist?
Another possibility is that time itself began with the universe. If so, asking “what happened before the universe?” may not make sense, because there may have been no “before.”
Perhaps existence is necessary. Maybe absolute nothingness was never actually possible.
Or perhaps our question itself is fundamentally wrong. We understand causes as things that happen within the universe, but perhaps the universe as a whole doesn't require a cause in the same way.
Physics can explain increasingly well how our universe evolved, but we still don't know why there is a universe at all...or why there are laws of physics in the first place.
Maybe the answer requires new physics.
Maybe it requires philosophy.
Or maybe this is simply a question humanity has not yet learned how to answer.
Why does the universe exist at all?
u/Sir_Roop_ka_School — 6 days ago
▲ 2 r/universe
Why Does Webb’s Galaxy Pair Look Like a Penguin and an Egg?
Two galaxies appear frozen in a strange cosmic pose: one resembles a penguin and the other an egg. They're interacting gravitationally, and that encounter is pulling gas and dust into dramatic structures around them.
u/OkPraline3794 — 4 days ago
▲ 8 r/universe
If expansion is happening faster than speed of light how can our galaxy still possibly collide with the Andromeda galaxy?
I always hear the expansion is happening faster than the speed of light. I read a useful comparison to help imagine this scenario is to think about how a loaf of raisin bread rises in an oven. Although individual raisins don’t travel around through the dough, they nevertheless end up further away from each other as the dough expands during the baking process. You get the picture: the dough is empty space; the raisins are the galaxies.
So not only the outside space expands, also all the space between and in every direction.
Even if galaxies don’t move around at all, their mutual distances will grow because of the expansion of space.
So im assuming galaxies also cannot move faster than the expansion so how would they still collide? Is it because they move towards each other at speeds that combined do exceed the speed of the expansion?
u/Blowing-Away0369 — 6 days ago
▲ 3 r/universe
The Milky Way has a giant cloud of alcohol
Scientists have found an enormous molecular cloud near the center of our galaxy that contains vast amounts of ethanol. It’s the same kind of alcohol found in beer and vodka—but it’s so incredibly spread out that you could never “collect” it into a drink. Space is weird.
u/Dear-Elderberry-6513 — 4 days ago
What Happens In One Galactic Year
u/LetSensitive6124 — 10 days ago
Can you imagine spending your evening in Mars surface?
A picture of Mars surface and how the sun looks from there.
u/That_Firefly — 9 days ago