Science a GoGo's Home Page Forums General Discussion Physics Forum A 'Cosmic Axis of Evil'

A 'Cosmic Axis of Evil' a strange name given to a pattern found by NASAs WMAP satellite. A pattern apparently imprinted on the radiation left behind by the big bang. Which if real, poses a threat to the standard cosmology model

According to the standard model, the universe is isotropic, or much the same everywhere

The first sign that this might not be the case came in 2005, when NASA?s WMAP satellite seemed to show that some hot and cold spots in the CMB are not distributed randomly, as expected, but form a curious pattern aligned along an axis, now dubbed ,'The axis of evil'

Some Astronomers doubted the patterns very existence. Suggesting that it might be a problem with WMAPs instruments or even distortions caused by a nearby supercluster.

Now, two independent studies seem to confirm that it does exist. Damien Hutsemekers of the University of Liege in Belgium analysed the polarisation of light from 355 quasars and found that as the quasars get nearer the axis, the polarisation becomes more ordered than expected. Taken together, the polarisation angles from the quasars seem to corkscrew around the axis.
"This is really interesting" says Hinshaw. "Cosmologists should sit up and take notice."

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-04/ns-oe041107.php

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"You will never find a real Human being - even in a mirror."

.....Mike Kremer.

I've been watching it.

Here's a related link that may be of interest.
http://cosmology.lbl.gov/talks/Alexander_06.pdf