WMAP microwave sky
Pictured here is a combined quadrupole plus octopole map of the WMAP microwave sky in galactic co-ordinates, after subtracting the Milky Way. The ecliptic (dashed line) threads its way along the node line, separating one of the hot spots from one of the cold spots, tracking the node over a third of the sky. Extrema in the south are more extreme than those in the north ecliptic hemisphere; indications for such an anisotropy have also been noticed at higher multipoles (Eriksen et al. 2004).