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Shape of the Universe Determined To Be Really, Really Flat

Posted by timothy on from the how-flat-was-it dept.

StartsWithABang writes: You might imagine all sorts of possibilities for how the Universe could have been shaped: positively curved like a higher-dimensional sphere, negatively curved like a higher-dimensional saddle, folded back on itself like a donut/torus, or spatially flat on the largest scales, like a giant Cartesian grid. Yet only one of these possibilities matches up with our observations, something we can probe simply by using our knowledge of how light travels in both flat and curved space, and measuring the CMB, the source of the most distant light in the Universe. The result? A Universe that's so incredibly flat, it's indistinguishable from perfection. Which means it's probably even flatter than Kansas.

5 of 235 comments (clear)

  1. Kansas isn't even remotely flat by MichaelSmith · · Score: 3, Funny

    Not sure what OP is on about.

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    http://michaelsmith.id.au
    1. Re:Kansas isn't even remotely flat by LogicLoop · · Score: 3, Funny

      Not only is Kansas flat, it's literally flatter than a pancake.

    2. Re:Kansas isn't even remotely flat by sjames · · Score: 4, Funny

      Little known fact, the first part of The Wizard of Oz was also in color, it's just that Kansas is actually sepia tone.

  2. Multiverse, somebody has it by Tablizer · · Score: 3, Funny

    So, who are the lucky bastards who get the Dolly Parton universe?

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    Table-ized A.I.
  3. Flatter than Kansas? by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 4, Funny

    Which means it's probably even flatter than Kansas.

    The band or the state?

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    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .