Anomalies of the CMB

[Kullat Nunu]

A new analysis of the cosmic microwave background suggests the solar system may be distorting our view of it.

Astronomy magazine article

[mickal555]

I'll bet its everyones microwave ovens distorting the background radiation :P not our soler system per sey.

[ChibiVader]

I knew that popcorn I had last night was a bad idea.

[Normandy6644]

Also a thread here, though I think it's probably a good idea to have both so that we can discuss the ATM view of it as well.

[Doodler]

Also a thread here, though I think it's probably a good idea to have both so that we can discuss the ATM view of it as well.

To ask a more GA question, is the effect similar to gravitational lensing? If so, can it be accounted for and corrected?

[Normandy6644]

Also a thread here, though I think it's probably a good idea to have both so that we can discuss the ATM view of it as well.

To ask a more GA question, is the effect similar to gravitational lensing? If so, can it be accounted for and corrected?

I would think so, though I imagine it's the exact nature of the effect that needs to be quantified before it can be corrected. Gravitational lensing is a well known phenomena; whatever this is needs to be understood before we can predict around it.

[ChibiVader]

I'd defaintely agree that it should be possible to compensate for it if it's a source within our solar system. The challange will be trying to figure out what part is local and what part is truly cosmological. Similar problems occur with dust in the optics when doing CCD photography, but these can be corrected because it's easy to determine what is being affected by taking an image against a flat background so any variation can only be caused by these sources. However, I don't think the universe is going to give us that chance.