The cosmic microwave background over the whole sky, with the unusual ‘Cold Spot’ feature circled at the lower right. Credit: Image courtesy of University of Portsmouth
The map of cosmic void positions – large empty spaces with relatively few galaxies – and superclusters – huge regions with many more galaxies than normal – can be used to measure the effect of dark energy ‘stretching’ the universe. The results confirm the predictions of Einstein’s theory of gravity. Lead author Dr Seshadri Nadathur from the University’s Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation said: “We used a new technique to make a very precise measurement of the effect that these structures have on photons from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) – light left over from shortly after the Big Bang – passing through them...
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