Cold spot in cosmic microwave background was caused by “supervoid”
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.028812
Wired : Several of the maps of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation have revealed a spot that is unusually large and cold. Its size and coldness have posed a challenge to theories of the universe’s early history. Now Istvan Szapudi of the University of Hawaii and his colleagues believe they have an explanation that fits with other cosmological theories. Using the Pan-STARRS1 telescope and NASA’s Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer , Szapudi’s team found a vast region of space with a much lower density of galaxies than average, about 1.8 billion light-years wide and located just 3 billion light-years from Earth. They propose that as the CMB radiation passed through that “supervoid,” it may have lost considerable energy, which explains why there is a cold spot.
