Article: Why is the universe lumpy? (Journey to the Beginning of Time: Hubble Space Telescope)

Article from:
U.S. News & World Report
Article date:
March 26, 1990
Copyright

#2. WHY IS THE UNIVERSE LUMPY?

The universe simply doesn't look the way it ought to, given what scientists know about its origins, and that is one of the great cosmological conundrums that astronomers hope to unravel in the coming decade. Precise new measurements of the faint cosmic background radiation left over from the big bang reveal that in its earliest stages the universe was much smoother than anyone expected, free of the minute perturbations that theoretically would have seeded future galaxies. Even so, astronomers who are making key measurements of the universe today are finding anomalies - galaxies arrayed on huge "walls" that enclose vast voids, for ...

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