London, Feb 8 : The most detailed map yet of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), the afterglow of the big bang, has revealed the initials of world renowned physicist Stephen Hawking - "SH".

According to a report in New Scientist, NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe team released the map.

The initials might be an improbable pattern that was seen randomly in the map, but the NASA team, used them to draw attention to a serious point.

With each new round of WMAP data, apparent anomalies called "anisotropies" in the CMB have puzzled physicists.

Such patterns have also been used to justify various exotic theories.

One notorious anomaly is the "axis of evil", an apparent alignment in the hot and cold regions where there should be randomness.

Another is the "cold spot", a particularly large void in the CMB, which some have proposed is evidence of another universe nestling next to our own.

The WMAP team point out that if something as apparently unlikely as Hawking's initials can be found in the CMB data, then the chances of finding other apparently improbable patterns may also be quite high.

"I do think there is a bit of a psychological effect," said WMAP's chief scientist Charles Bennett. "People want to find unusual things," he added.