Why Astronomers Cannot See Beyond 46 Billion Light-years Away

Isaiah 40:21-22, “Have ye not known?  have ye not heard?  hath it not been told you from the beginning?  have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.”

Very few people understand what I am about to simplify for you in layman's terms, and these facts are as frightening as they are beautiful about our universe. Dr. Edwin Hubble (1889-1953), an American astronomer, discovered that the universe is expanding in 1929 when he published a paper demonstrating that galaxies are moving away from us. This groundbreaking finding changed our understanding of the cosmos. Hubble established the field of extragalactic astronomy, discovering that the universe is expanding, which is now known as Hubble's Law. This rate of expansion is called the Hubble Constant. His work fundamentally changed man's understanding of the cosmos and led to the naming of the Hubble Space Telescope in his honor, which was launched in 1990.

In 1998 two groups of astronomers discovered that not only is the universe expanding, but it is increasing its expansion rate exponentially. The universe is expanding at approximately 163,000 mph per megaparsec (3.26 million light-years). An arbitrary illustration to help you understand would be that for every 1,000 miles you drive your car, your speed increases by 5 mph. So, concerning the universe, for every 3.26 light-years the universe expands, its rate of expansion increases by 163,000 mph.

This natural phenomena is why astronomer's telescopes cannot see farther than 46 billion light-years, because any light beyond that distance hasn't reached our telescopes yet, and it never will because the universe is expanding away from us faster than the light can travel. We can't see beyond 46 billion light-years because the universe has been expanding since the alleged “Big Bang” (a powerful expansion that violently flung matter outward in all directions) and light from objects beyond this distance hasn't had enough time to reach our telescopes.

I am careful not to glibly adopt scientist's “Big Bang” theory simply because we don't know what started the outward expansion, but we do know for a fact that something caused the universe to start expanding. Since there is no matter in outer space, an object once set in motion will travel forever. NASA launched Voyager 2 in 1977 and that probe is still traveling away from the earth at a mindboggling speed of 34,320 mph. It has been soaring through space unhindered for the past 49 years. It is notable for being the only spacecraft to have visited Uranus and Neptune. As of February 2026, Voyager 2 has now traveled 13,265,314,652 miles through through our solar system. Wow! And it will keep going forever.

By the way, because there is no matter in space to absorb the sun's radiation, space maintains a constant temperature of -454° F. Absolute Zero is -459.6° F (the temperature at which all atoms stop moving). Although temperatures in the universe can reach tens of millions of degrees (e.g., the core of the sun reaches 27 million degrees), nothing in the universe can ever become colder than -459.6° F. That is interesting!

The universe isn't expanding faster than the speed of light (186,182 miles per second), but it's the exponential accelerating expansion rate that prevents light beyond 46 billion light-years from ever reaching our telescopes. The increasing expansion rate of the universe is called Cosmic Acceleration. This phenomenon indicates that the universe is expanding at an accelerating pace, primarily attributed to a mysterious force known as Dark Energy.

In other words, since the Cosmos has been expanding for 13.8 billion years (a number calculated by reversing the expansion process), there's just hasn't been enough time for light beyond 46.5 billion light-years to reach man's telescopes. The old adage is true: It's like taking one step forward and two steps back. It's like trying to pay down your bills, but too many bills pile up so that you simply cannot pay them. Put another way, there is light which has been traveling toward earth through space for 13.8 billion years, but since the universe is ever expanding, that light will never be able to reach us.

I humbly prefer to think that this so-called “dark energy” is in reality the omnipotent power of our divine Creator, God. One thing is abundantly clear, and that is that there is more we don't understand than we do understand about the universe. Psalms 143:5, “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.”

Regarding the size of the universe there can be only one of two possibilities and both are mindboggling:

1. The universe is finite and has and end.
2. The universe is infinite and is endless.

If the former is true that the universe is finite, then what lies beyond the Cosmos? Every law of science confirms that there cannot be nothing. Even though there is no energy or matter in the deep cold emptiness of space, it is still space. How can there be no space? The very thought is mind-numbing.

And if the latter is true that the universe is endless, how can that be? Every law of science confirms that the universe simply cannot be without an end.

The Tragic Fate Of Theoretical Physicist Stephen Hawking

And if we really want to delve into deep philosophical matters, when did time begin? Where did the universe come from? I heard theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking (1942-2018), an avowed atheist, foolishly say that the universe came from nothing. That is IMPOSSIBLE without God! Stephen Hawking was an ungrateful atheist who believed that the universe could be explained through science without the need for a divine creator.

He famously stated in 2018 before his death, “There is no God,” and emphasized that science offers a more convincing explanation for the existence of the universe than religious beliefs. Tragically, at age 76, Stephen Hawking still declared: "There is no God" in his final book, "Brief Answers to the Big Questions," which was published posthumously in October 2018. So sad.

Speaking to ABC News in 2010, Dr. Hawking foolishly said: “One can't prove that God doesn't exist, but science makes God unnecessary.” Then in an interview with The Guardian in 2011, Mr. Hawking said: “There is no heaven; it's a fairy story.” What a fool! Psalms 53:1, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.” Dr. Hawking further stated:

“I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail,' he said. 'There is no heaven or afterlife for broken-down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.” SOURCE

Hawking's final 2018 book, “Brief Answers To The Big Questions,” puts all speculation to rest whether he believed there is a God; he sadly didn't. Dear reader, according to the inspired Word of God there is no such thing as a genuine atheist, only wicked fools who refuse to glorify their Creator (Romans 1:20-22). Dr. Hawking knew there is a God, but he hated Him. I can assure you that the moment Stephen woke up in the fires of Hell that he believed.

Our Faithful And Good God Created The Universe

Job 9:1-10, “Then Job answered and said, I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God? If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand. He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered? Which removeth the mountains, and they know not: which overturneth them in his anger. Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble. Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars. Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea. Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.  Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number.”

The universe is ever expanding, but this expansion does not mean that distant galaxies are moving through space at speeds exceeding the speed of light. That would be scientifically impossible! Instead, the space itself is expanding, which allows galaxies to recede from us at rates that can appear faster than light without violating the laws of physics. Why Doesn't The Expanding Universe Break The Speed Of Light?

Just because you can see it doesn’t mean you can reach it. The nearest star to the earth, other than our own sun, is Alpha Centauri A, which is a mind-numbing 25 trillion miles away (4.37 light-years). One light-year is 5.88 trillion miles! That's the nearest star! When you casually without a telescope gaze up into the evening sky, you are only seeing stars within the Milky Way Galaxy, which on average are located 2,000 light-years away (quadrillions of miles away). God is more than amazing!

The brightest star in the night sky is Sirius, which is located about 8.6 light-years (50.7 trillion miles) away from Earth. It is also known as the Dog Star and is part of the constellation Canis Major. Do you have any idea how far away 50.7 trillion miles is? It would take 31,709.79 years to count to one trillion if you counted one number every second. Realistically, for a human being to count a number you have to express it in your mind, and a large number (take for example 862,546,373) would require at least 5 seconds to express. So, in actuality, it would take about 150,000 years to count to one trillion (audibly or inaudibly).

So, it would require 7,605,000 years to count how many miles the brightest star in the evening star is from the earth. And all of these stars visible in the night sky are located within our Milky Way Galaxy. As of 2026, astronomers have determined that there are at least another 2,000,000,000,000 galaxies in the known universe, and each of those galaxies contains hundreds of billions of stars. And if all these scientific facts haven't already blown you mind, consider that our faithful God has a personal name for each star in the universe. Psalms 147:4, “He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.”

Any object presently beyond 46 billion light-years from us still emits light, and that light travels through the Universe, but the fabric of space simply expands too relentlessly for that light to ever reach us. With each moment that passes, every unbound object in the universe moves farther and farther away from our telescopes, and previously reachable objects transition across that mark to become forever unreachable. Yet, nothing moves faster than light in an expanding universe. Why Doesn't The Expanding Universe Break The Speed Of Light?

Dear friend, did you know that if you drove 60 mph at highway speed, it would take you 176,000,000,000 years to drive across our own Milky Way Galaxy? Truly, God is more than amazing! And our galaxy is just one of over 2 trillion galaxies in the observable known universe! I cannot help but wonder what lies beyond? Only God knows.

The more I learn about the amazing world of astronomy and our incredible universe, the more I realize that God's greatness is truly unsearchable as Scripture tells us in Psalms 145:1-3, “I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever. Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.”

Thank you for reading my ministry blog. Jesus is precious!!!

Carina Nebula