“The entire Universe outside our galaxy could have completely disappeared over 20,000 years ago and we still wouldn’t know it yet. Our view of the Universe is actually what it looked like anywhere from thousands to Billions of years ago -with no way to see what it actually looks like “right now”.”
#2 No. We're seeing it the way it used to look, sure, but... no, the universe absolutely could not have "disappeared."
Also lots of poop left up there.
Ah, but CNN has Anderson Cooper, who bestows legitimacy on their bullsh/t.
Here's a picture of the size of their hearth though ;
https://www.bu.edu/articles/2010/a-whale-of-an-exhibition