Scientists analyzing data from a defunct satellite say we should all consider that our universe might be round, rather than flat. The consequences, they explain in a new paper, could be crisis-inducing. //

The universe might come in one of three shapes: open, closed, or flat. Parallel lines in an open universe will always move farther apart; parallel lines in a closed universe will eventually meet (and single lines will eventually meet up with themselves); and parallel lines in a flat universe will stay parallel forever. //

Scientists already knew from Planck satellite data that mass in the universe was warping the the cosmic microwave background radiation, the farthest radiation our telescopes can see, more than the standard theory of cosmology predicted. Perhaps this is a statistical fluctuation or something wrong with the way scientists are interpreting the data—but it would be an incredibly unlikely statistical fluctuation, with less than 1 percent odds. Instead, the team led by Eleonora Di Valentino at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom posited that the observation could be explained simply by a closed universe. This change, however, would put plenty of other measurements out of agreement with Planck’s data. //

This new paper “would be a really big deal if true,” Dan Hooper, head of the Theoretical Astrophysics Group at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory told Gizmodo in an email. But he wasn’t completely swayed. “Overall, my view is that in order to convince me of something that is this surprising, one would have to present some very compelling evidence. At this time, the evidence that is available doesn’t reach this high standard.”

Others highlighted the fact that it may be too early to toss out what many scientists consider to be a core fact of the universe. “There are still things we don’t understand in the systematics,” meaning potential sources of error from the act of making the measurement, said Renée Hložek, professor at the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of Toronto. She told Gizmodo that physicists need to be much surer about whether the issue arises from systematic errors or not before she’ll be convinced. //