Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments
typodupeerror delete not in
  • Preferences

Comments: 1 +-   How can 200,000 galaxies point the same way?-> on Thursday August 30 2007, @07:16AM KentuckyFC

Submitted by KentuckyFC on Thursday August 30 2007, @07:16AM
space
KentuckyFC writes "Does the universe have a preferred direction — an axis of evil as some astrophyscists have called it? It certainly looks that way with the publication today of a survey of 200,000 elliptical galaxies that indicates they are all aligned in the same direction. What's more, this axis is the same as the controversial alignment found in the cosmic microwave background by the WMAP spacecraft"
Link to Original Source
submission
This discussion was created for logged-in users only, but now has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

How can 200,000 galaxies point the same way? 1 Comment More /

 Full
 Abbreviated
 Hidden
More
Loading... please wait.
  • The article does not state that all of the galaxies point in the same direction. The research does not even measure the axis of a single galaxy. It uses the mean eccentricity of the galaxy's discs (as seen from Earth) to determine that there must be a preferred orientation because the average apparent eccentricity varies from one part of the sky to another. Where we are looking toward the axis of alignment, the galaxies average apparent eccentricity is lower, and where we look perpendicular to the axis,
Search
I cannot believe that God plays dice with the cosmos. -- Albert Einstein, on the randomness of quantum mechanics

All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners. Comments are owned by the Poster. The Rest © 1997-2009 Geeknet, Inc.