Japanese astronomers have said that the universe around us may be located in a “global void”. They proposed such a hypothesis after analyzing new cosmological observations. According to the results of recent studies, the distribution of galaxies in space is uneven, and we are probably in a large region with a lower density of matter compared to the average of the universe. informsIFLScience.
Specialists from Keio University and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan discovered anomalies in the data on the speed of movement of galaxies. Although according to the classical model, space expands uniformly, the presence of a less dense zone can change the way light propagates, which in turn creates the illusion of accelerated expansion.
Based on information from the largest astronomical survey of the sky, researchers modeled the structure of the universe within hundreds of millions of light years. Simulations have shown that the number of galaxies in our region is smaller than expected, indicating the possible presence of a so-called “global void”.
This assumption may explain some discrepancies in modern cosmology, in particular differences in measurements of the Hubble constant, a quantity that determines the rate of expansion of the universe. If we are indeed in a less dense region of space, then our observations of the age and size of the universe may differ from global estimates. Although the researchers stress that it is too early to draw any definitive conclusions, these new findings encourage us to reconsider established ideas about the distribution of matter in the universe and our place in it.
