Physics
Large-Scale Structure and the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation Standard Ruler
Quick fact
The baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) signal appears as a subtle enhancement in galaxy clustering at a separation of about 500 million light-years—a scale set by sound waves in the early Universe.
Why this is interesting
When you look at a map of the Universe, you see a tangled web of galaxies—but hidden in that web is a cosmic echo from the Big Bang, a standard ruler 500 million light-years long. How can a single cosmic feature measure the farthest distances?