Menu
Home
People
Places
Arts
History
Plants & Animals
Science
Life & Culture
Technology
Reference.org
Axis of evil (cosmology)
open-in-new
<p>The "axis of evil" is a name given to a purported correlation between the plane of the Solar System and aspects of the <a href="/facts/Cosmic_microwave_background/ThB2HkLS">cosmic microwave background</a> (CMB). Such a correlation would give the plane of the Solar System and hence the location of Earth a greater significance than might be expected by chance –a result which has been claimed to be evidence of a departure from the <a href="/facts/Copernican_principle/9cvC9Wc7">Copernican principle</a>. However, a 2016 study compared isotropic and anisotropic cosmological models against <a href="/facts/WMAP/UUJWfy0U">WMAP</a> and <a href="/facts/Planck_(spacecraft)/cECmML33">Planck</a> data and found no evidence for anisotropy. </p>