Multipole vectors of our sky, based on WMAP five-year full-sky ILC map and with galactic plane coinciding with the plane of the page. The temperature pattern at each multipole () can either be described by an angular temperature pattern (colored lobes in this figure), or alternatively by precisely multipole vectors (black “sticks”). While the multipole vectors contain all information about the directionality of the CMB temperature pattern, they are not simply related to the hot and cold spots and, for example, do not correspond to the temperature minima/maxima [14]. Notice that and temperature patterns are rather planar with the same plane and that their vectors lie approximately in this plane. Adopted from [15].
