So a lot of astronomy is based on the principle that we are not in a special pocket of the universe.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmological_principle
Basically, if this weren't to hold true, a lot of astronomy would fall over, even physics.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmological_principle
Basically, if this weren't to hold true, a lot of astronomy would fall over, even physics.
Most people don't realize that science—and even everything in life—has to start from some axioms/assumptions, just like math. I first realized this fact when I was reading the Relativity book written by Einstein himself, who challenges the assumptions in classical physics.
As time goes, some of the assumptions could be proved to be unnecessary or even wrong. There must be still some assumptions left, though—because without them, we can't talk about science, or anything, really.