The European Space Agency (ESA) has released the most precise map of the ancient universe ever made. The Planck space telescope constructed this 50 million pixels all-sky image of cosmic background radiation (CMB) by observing microwave radiation across the sky over 15 months from just the afterglow of the Big Bang. As a result, the data has suggested that the universe is 80 million years older than the previous guess, now estimated at 13.81 billion years old.

 

According to the map, the early universe appears to be asymmetrical, with an unexplained ‘cold spot’ over much of the sky. Also discovered is that the universe is made up of slightly more ordinary matter less dark energy than previously thought.

 

These large scale anomalies in data are not explained by standard universal models, suggesting that there is a preferred direction in the expansion of the universe called ‘Axis of Evil,’ and inspiring the search for a credible explanation.