Baryon Acoustic Oscillations Scale of Universe (IMAGE)

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Baryon Acoustic Oscillations Scale of Universe

Caption

This is an artist's concept of the new measurement of the size of the Universe. The gray spheres show the pattern of the "baryon acoustic oscillations" from the early Universe. Galaxies today have a slight tendency to align on the spheres -- the alignment is greatly exaggerated in this illustration. By comparing the size of the spheres (white line) to the predicted value, astronomers can determine to one-percent accuracy how far away the galaxies are.

Credit

Image by Zosia Rostomian, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

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