text: what's outside the universe? is the universe infinite? if not, then what's outside it? can we have an infinite universe for example? the answer is no, the universe is finite. stephen hawking in 'a brief history of time' (1989 page 44) describes the universe as being "finite but unbounded". the simplest answer is that as the universe is known to be expanding, it cannot possibly be infinite. to be precise, the dictionary definition of the word universe is "all that is. the whole system of things." in this sense the universe is not expanding into anything other than itself, for whatever it is expanding into is part of the universe, there being nothing else but the universe. however, for the sake of simplicity, i am referring only to our big bang expanding universe as 'the universe'. (even if you happen to disagree with the big bang theory, the term 'universe' will still have the same meaning here, as it refers to 'our' universe only, and does not include whatever may or may not exist outside of it.)