How can we be confident about universal properties, or anything for that matter, in astrophysics when we can’t actually do experiments on stars, distant planets, etc. ?
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We can’t, and that makes astronomers just slightly nervous all of the time. It’s a conscious *assumption* of astronomy that any given place in the Universe is broadly similar to any other place in the Universe, and this assumption has been very helpful in piecing together a picture of what’s going on elsewhere. It seems consistent enough to be reliable. But if any evidence ever came out that this wasn’t the case we’d have to rethink everything we know about the Universe.
Enter the **Axis of Evil.**
This is a peculiar observation about the Cosmic Microwave Background. Specifically it’s the observation that under certain kinds of data analysis the CMB appears to have a “hot” side and a “cold” side rather than being entirely uniform, and the line that divides the two is disturbingly aligned with the orbital plane of our own Solar System.
It’d be *really* improbable that this would happen by chance, and that suggests some rather troubling implications for that assumption of uniformity in the Universe and our own unprivileged position within it. It’s *probably* just a quirk of our measurements or something but no one’s ever been able to conclusively explain it. And, absent a solid explanation, it lurks on the periphery of all astronomy and threatens to upend the whole apple cart.
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