This isn’t just a pretty picture; it’s the biggest map of the universe yet. Earth is in the lower-left looking out over 5 billion light-years, and each colored point represents a galaxy of hundreds of billions of stars: https://t.co/yJ9eM0Abey
? D. Schlegel/Berkeley Lab/DESI pic.twitter.com/uJtaTT3zbD
– WIRED (@WIRED) January 13, 2022 Three-dimensional computer scan of the DESI Universe. The ground is at the bottom left. Each colored dot represents a galaxy, which, in turn, consists of 100 billion or 1 trillion stars.
A group of scientists from the Kit Peak National Observatory in Arizona has been collecting and combining images of different parts of the universe taken by the DESI astronomical instrument mounted on the Mayall telescope for six years.
Astrophysicists Release the Biggest Map of the Universe Yet – https://t.co/DD74DeA3VL
After just seven months, a huge team of scientists who work with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument have already mapped a larger swath of the cosmos than all other 3D surveys combin… pic.twitter.com/JTpbamuMAr
— Techosmo (@techosmo) January 13, 2022
Over the years, scientists have been able to combine more than two hundred thousand spectral images, of which they have compiled the largest map of the Universe at the moment, occupying about a petabyte of data. It is reported that with the help of the DESI device, astrophysicists managed to collect a “web” that includes more than 7.5 million galaxies – this is 10% of the space atlas.
Scientists intend to continue their work. DESI will scan the outer space of up to 40 million galaxies, which will help cover about 14 thousand square degrees (about a third of the sky), writes Wired.
It is specified that the DESI astronomical instrument consists of several devices mounted on the dome of a 14-storey telescope. 10 wedge-shaped lobes, each of which consists of 500 mechanisms, allow DESI to produce galactic cartography. Thanks to them, the device is able to measure the exact distance to galaxies and their emitted light in the wavelength range, achieving both quantitative and qualitative indicators. In one night, DESI collects information about about 100 thousand galaxies.
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Ekaterina Gura