Cosmological crisis: We don't know if the universe is round or flat

newscientist.com ^ | Nov 4,2019 | By Leah Crane

[Openurmind]

I just had the same thought and posted right after you. To be flat would be illogical. wonder what year they came up with this flat theory I wonder.

[Seruzawa]

The question is as answerable as the one about angels on the head of a pin.

At least it keeps them busy and out of mishief. Less chance of them coming up with worse weapons to give to the barbarians that pretend to run the Earth.

[Telepathic Intruder]

"if you travelled far enough in one direction, you would end up back where you started."

Except that the universe is also expanding, and you'd have to go faster than light to outrun it.

[the_daug]

[TomGuy]

shaped like a sphere rather than a flat sheet,

Good to know so when we send a big rocket ship out there, it won't fall off the edge.

[Dave Wright]

The controversy is significant because it could affect our understanding of the earliest moments of the creation of the universe during the inflationary period.

The trick to determining whether space is flat or curved is to measure two locations in the Cosmic Microwave Background that we know are certain distance apart. We also know how far away the CMB is from the Earth so we can form a triangle with the three points. Using basic trigonometry we can calculate the sum of the angles in the triangle. If they add up to 180 degrees space is flat. If they add to more than 180 degrees space is spherical.

The problem is that the CMB point locations may be different from where we measure them due to dark matter gravity acting like a lens. When these researchers compensated for the lensing the angles added to more than 180 degrees suggesting that space is spherical. The dispute is whether they over estimated the lensing effect.

It will keep scientists employed for years as they massage the CMB sensor data and try to reconcile the dispute. Because the points are very far away and the measurements must make assumptions about how much matter actually exists in the space between us there probably isn’t a “right” answer. The differences are very small but according to this paper large they are enough to be real and not just errors in measurement.

[null and void]

All the world is biscuit shaped...

[grey_whiskers]

If it were flat cats would have knocked everything off of it by now.

vs.

If it's spherical, how can there be turtles all the way down?

[married21]

the universe is 41 times more likely to be closed than flat...

---

Hmm, I thought the answer to the universe was 42....

[Grampa Dave]

Yes, how about the 4D equivalent?

[null and void]

“How does one have form within a void?”

My form is round.

[Larry Lucido]

I'm thinking muffin shaped.

[bert]

Foolish, nay stupid premise

The universe is amorphous

[null and void]

Can’t top that...

[Fester Chugabrew]

How would I live differently if I knew either way? Pick a different lane at the grocery store? Crisis!

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

Great post!

It’s an amusing way of reminding us that ancient peoples had cosmological theories. People have always studied and theorized about the cosmos — in one way or another. It’s what sets our species apart. We haven’t even begun to scratch the surface.

[null and void]

It was described as being without form and void...

[Celtic Conservative]

And that’s just this universe. If quantum physicists are right there are a near infinite amount of universes existing pan dimensionally. What shape are they?

CC

[Ikemeister]

I know I’m losing a lot of sleep over it.

[P.O.E.]