Leading cosmologists gather at London's Royal Society to discuss the possibility that the conventional view of the universe, as a vast, featureless expanse, may be incorrect.
Meeting at London’s Royal Society will scrutinise basic model first formulated in 1922 that universe is a vast, even expanse with no notable featuresIf you zoomed out on the universe, well beyond the level of planets, stars or galaxies, you would eventually see a vast, evenly speckled expanse with no notable features. At least, that has been the conventional view .
The meeting comes after a number of high-profile astronomical observations have challenged the conventional view, according to Prof Subir Sarkar, a cosmologist at the University of Oxford and co-organiser of the meeting. Dr Nathan Secrest, of the US Naval Observatory and a collaborator with Sarkar, is presenting findings that raise the possibility that the universe is slightly lopsided. After analysing a catalogue of more than 1m quasars , the team found that one hemisphere of the sky appeared to host roughly 0.5% more sources than the other.
Alexia Lopez, a PhD student at the University of Central Lancashire, has discovered what appear to be cosmic megastructures, named Big Ring and Giant Arc. These shapes, traced out by galaxies and galaxy clusters, occur on a scale beyond which the universe should be smooth and effectively featureless.
Prof George Efstathiou, an astrophysicist at the University of Cambridge, who is presenting a more sceptical take at the conference, said it was not true that the model had not been repeatedly interrogated. “People accuse me of defending the model,” he said. “But what they don’t realise is how much time I’ve spent trying to disprove it. I completely disagree that’s there’s some kind of groupthink.
Universe Cosmology Meeting Conventional View Royal Society Cosmologists
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