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Stephen Hawking's initials seen in space | The most detailed map yet of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), the afterglow of the big bang, has revealed the initials of world renowned physicist
Stephen Hawking - 'SH'. According to a report in New Scientist, NASA's Wilkinson
Microwave Anisotropy Probe team released the map. The initials might be an improbable
pattern that was seen randomly in the map, but the NASA team, used them to draw
attention to a serious point. With each new round of WMAP data, apparent anomalies
called "anisotropies" in the CMB have puzzled physicists. Such patterns have also
been used to justify various exotic theories. One notorious anomaly is the "axis
of evil", an apparent alignment in the hot and cold regions where there should
be randomness. Another is the "cold spot", a particularly large void in the CMB,
which some have proposed is evidence of another universe nestling next to our
own. The WMAP team point out that if something as apparently unlikely as Hawking's
initials can be found in the CMB data, then the chances of finding other apparently
improbable patterns may also be quite high. "I do think there is a bit of a psychological
effect," said WMAP's chief scientist Charles Bennett. "People want to find unusual
things," he added. |
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