200,000 Elliptical Galaxies All Point the Same Way

[Pondlife]

http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/0708/0708.4013.pdf

Abstract:

I have studied a sample of 200,000 elliptical galaxies with redshifts <0.20 from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to investigate whether they tend to have their ellipticities aligned along a particular axis. The data show a 13 standard deviation signal for such an alignment. The axis is close to the spiral spin axis found previously and to that of the quadrupole and octopole moments in the WMAP microwave sky survey.

In other words: all the 200,000 elliptical galaxies studied are pointing in the same direction. This axis is the same as the alignment found in the cosmic microwave background by the WMAP survey.

I don't know what it means, and neither do the paper's authors. From the paper: "A discussion of possible causes for these alignments is beyond the scope of this paper." (I think that means "we don't know", or perhaps it means "we need more funding"). However, it must mean something, and lots of great scientific discoveries begin with someone saying "now that's a bit strange".