"Asger" wrote in message...
...

Thank you for the wonderful explanation Painius.

From what i understood, does it mean that the universe is everything that
the space is (including all other galaxies etc), or is there something
larger than that? What does cosmos mean then? Can there be more than one
universe?

Asger

You're welcome, Asger, it's a pleasure!

Had to be away for a few days... so here we are again!

The Universe is usually taken to be "everything," whether
we can see and observe it or not. So sometimes when
we read about astronomy and cosmology, we have to find
out what the author really means. I find it interesting and
even a little bit funny that we now have the term...

observable universe

....which means all of the Universe that we can see that has
not expanded out beyond the limits of our observation.
And the funny part is that Earth is at the very center of this
"observable universe." So we are officially back to seeing
the Universe--at least this *kind*, the observable one--to be
"geocentric" or "Earth-centered.

Morrissette gave you the derivation of "cosmos" to be from
the Greek and meaning "order." And in astronomy when
this term is used, it's usually to describe the observation of
the physical structure and origins of the Universe. As an
example, the science of "cosmology"--which is also called
"cosmogony"--is a branch of astrophysics that studies this.

As for more than one Universe?...there is very little evidence
that supports this possibility. However there are many who
do speculate about it...

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?art...A5809EC5880000

....and typing "multiple universes" into any good search engine
will reveal even more. Such ideas-at least in my neck of the
woods--are considered highly speculative and more along
the lines of philosophy rather than science.

Will we ever know? Probably not, but it's damn fun looking
and talking about it!

happy days and...
starry starry nights!

--
"Oh give me please the Universe keys
That unlock all those mysteries!"
You pay your fees, you find some keys,
That keeps you always groping.

"Oh give me please the Happiness keys
That ease the pain of biting fleas!"
Today you seize you need no keys,
That door is always open.

Paine Ellsworth