I don’t mean that in a bad way. It is what it is. Quite varied and wonderful, our universe is, with unexpected features I don’t think many would have guessed at not long ago (like the fact that we only understand what about 4% of it is!! Crazy, in a certain sense). LAMBDA have released data for the last five years of the WMAP observatory, with more refined analysis, improved parameters, etc. Seven accompanying papers were released as well. Everything is in accordance with the picture that’s been developing in recent years.
I found the above updated version of the famous sky map (that shows the variations in the temperature of the universe’s first freely flying light which will give rise to all the structure we know today) at Ned Wright’s wonderful site.
Phil over at Bad Astronomy has a lovely post summarizing some of what we know and how we know. Worth a look… and of course, one of the best places to learn about what we know about our universe is Ned’s Cosmology Tutorial site. Go and settle down and have a read.
-cvj
