http://www.physorg.com/news68733979.html

The caption for the art on the "galaxy evolution" article says the universe is "280 million light years across", "13.4 billion years old". My calculations show that the universe has expanded at a typical rate of more than 10 times the speed of light.

Wow.

no.....it says what is displayed is 280 million light years across.....it is a section of the simulation of the universe at 13.4 billion years (and a very small section at that)

the average rate of the expansion of space is indeed greater than the speed of light (this is why scientists use the term "observable universe" because there is more we can't yet see because the light hasn't reached us yet).....space has no mass, in fact it does not inherently carry any information, so it can expand faster than light.....this average rate however is greatly skewed by inflation, space has not expanded faster than light since inflation

I have no problem with space expanding at any speed, but I do have a problem with the galaxies, etc. within that space moving faster than light. Which brings up the another question - how big is the whole "observable universe" if a 'small section' is 280 million light years?

This is the first time I have encountered a univerese with a radius larger that 13.4 MLY. I still live in the days when the universe and all the matter within it began as a point source and expanded from there. Would you be kind enough to refer me to some good material to bring me up to speed?

I think you are confusing MLY with BLY. You would be surprised to see the universe larger than 13.7 Billion LY in radius. 280 Million LY is just a small piece of that.

The galaxies are not moving through space. Rather, more space is appearing between them. If you look at the local patch of space here and there, you will see that they are in the same reference frame because the two galaxies are (nearly) stationary relative to each other. But those two local patches are moving farther apart, so an observer in one sees the other getting farther away. Even though it is not moving through its own space.

If you looked at one of the first stars whose light has been travelling for 13.something billion years to get to us, that object is 87 BLY away now because the space has been expanding the whole time, too. That is why you will see some measurements that the visible universe is 170 BLY in diameter, when we can only see 13 in each direction. But the latter is not a fair measurement either, since the object whose light took 13 billion years to get here was much closer than 13 BLY when the light started its journey.

Well done and clear. Thank you.