可观测宇宙（observable universe）是一个以观测者作为中心的球体空间，小得足以让观测者观测到该范围内的物体，也就是说物体发出的光有足够时间到达观测者。截至2013年对宇宙年龄最精确的估计是137.98±0.37 亿年。 但由于宇宙的膨胀，可观测宇宙的半径并不是固定的138亿光年，人类所观测的古老天体当前的距离比起其原先的位置要遥远得多（以固有距离（proper distance）来衡量，固有距离在现在的时点和同移距离是相等的）。 现在推测可观测宇宙半径约为465亿光年，直径约为930亿光年。 根据宇宙学原理，从任何方向到可观测宇宙边缘的距离大致是相等的。

The observable universe consists of the galaxies and other matter that can, in principle, be observed from Earth at the present time because light and other signals from these objects have had time to reach Earth since the beginning of the cosmological expansion. Assuming the universe is isotropic, the distance to the edge of the observable universe is roughly the same in every direction. That is, the observable universe is a spherical volume (a ball) centered on the observer. Every location in the Universe has its own observable universe, which may or may not overlap with the one centered on Earth.