What is surprising about this image is the absence of any sig- nificant structure or ΓÇ£lumpinessΓÇ¥ outside the Milky Way. The present universe is quite lumpy. Matter and energy form all sorts of conglomerations and structures. One would expect these structures to have their origins in the early universe and to be reflected in background radiation from that period. Yet this image implies that the early universe was smooth. So where did all the structures we see today come from? This is one of the central questions of modern cosmology.
