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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

🌌 NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

COBE Dipole: Speeding Through the Universe Credit:

Date: 1997-03-08

COBE Dipole: Speeding Through the Universe 
Credit:

View HD Image

Explanation:

Our Earth is
not at rest. The Earth moves around the Sun.
The Sun orbits the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.
The Milky Way Galaxy orbits in the Local Group.
The Local Group falls toward the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies.
But these speeds are less than the speed that all of these objects
together move relative to the microwave background.
In the above all-sky map,
radiation in the Earth's direction of motion appears blueshifted
and hence hotter, while radiation on the opposite side of the
sky is redshifted and colder. The map indicates that the Local Group
moves at about 600 kilometers per second relative to this primordial radiation.
This high speed was initially unexpected and its magnitude is
still unexplained. Why are we moving so fast? What is out there?