Have you ever considered that everything you know—the planets, stars, galaxies, and even you—might actually exist inside an enormous black hole?
What if the universe we call home is merely the interior of a cosmic leviathan, swallowing light from another reality we can never directly observe? For decades, black holes have captured our imagination as cosmic monsters devouring everything in their path, where even light cannot escape their gravitational clutches.
Recent discoveries are forcing scientists to consider an extraordinary possibility: that our entire universe might itself be a black hole. This isn't science fiction, it's a serious scientific hypothesis with growing evidence behind it.
The observable universe is about 93 billion light-years in diameter, based on current measurements and its expansion since the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago. The total universe's size is unknown; it could be finite, possibly 7 trillion light-years across or much larger, or even infinite. These estimates come from cosmic inflation models, but no direct evidence confirms the total size.
The Hubble tension, a debate over the universe's expansion rate, adds uncertainty but doesn't change the observable universe's size. Large structures like the Hercules–Corona Borealis Great Wall, spanning 10 billion light-years, fit within the observable universe. Future observations may clarify the total size.
