The universe may seem shapeless because it is so vast, but it does have a form that astronomers can observe. So, what is it shaped like?
Physicists think the universe is flat. Several lines of evidence point to this flat universe: light left over from the Big Bang, the rate of expansion of the universe at different locations, and the way the universe “looks” from different angles, experts told Live Science.
David Spergel, a theoretical astrophysicist and emeritus professor of astrophysical sciences at Princeton University, has probed the shape of the universe for decades. In a 2003 study published in The Astrophysical Journal, Spergel measured irregularities in the cosmic microwave background (CMB), light left over from the Big Bang, that were observed by NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) and later by the European Space Agency’s Planck spacecraft.
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