Largest, Most Accurate Image to Date of the Universe Mapped by Dark Energy Survey

The most exact measurements to date of the composition and growth of the universe has been made. That is, of what is currently known of the universe.

The measurements come from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) using the largest -ever sample of galaxies studied over one-eight of the sky. It is the largest sample of galaxies observed so far.

The DES exploration of space shows how the appearance of the evolution of the universe looks like.

It investigated the largest-ever maps -- generated by 29 scientific studies -- of the distribution and shapes of galaxies, expanding over seven billion light-years, SciTechDaily reported.

Data from the first three years of the DES contributed to the most current model -- the standard cosmological model -- of the universe.

Earlier data and other experiments of the DES show that matter in the universe currently known are few percent less clumpy compared to what was forecasted.

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The Largest Sample of Galaxies Observed

According to the TheInside Tribune, the DES used 30 percent of the time of the Victor M. Blanco Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile over six years, from 2013 to 2019. Using the 570-megapixed Dark Energy Camera of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) 4-meter telescope at the Chile observatory, the DES examined 5,000 square degrees, or nearly one-eighth of the whole sky, in about 768 nights of observation. Hundreds of millions of space images were catalogued.

About 226 million galaxies were surveyed over more than 340 nights of observation to develop the largest and the most accurate maps yet of galaxies.

View of the Universe's Large-Scale Structure

The archived images from the Dark Energy Camera, according to the Dark Energy Survey website, includes the DES Data Release 2 on which the maps are based. It is curated by a program of the NSF's NOIRLab called Community Science and Data Center (CSDC). NOIRLab (formerly the National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory) is the preeminent US national center for ground-based, nighttime optical and infrared astronomy.

The CSDC is a provider of user services, software systems and development initiatives that link and support the NOIRLab telescopes' scientific missions, including that of the Blanco telescope in Chile.

Since the DES surveyed nearby galaxies, and those at billion-of-light-years distance, its maps provide a snapshot of the large-scale structure of the universe as well as the view of how it has evolved over the past seven billion years.

DES's Dependence on 2 Phenomena

Ordinary matter comprises approximately 5 percent of the universe. Dark energy -- believed to drive the accelerating expansion of the universe by counteracting the force of gravity -- accounts for roughly 70 percent.

The remaining 25 percent, UChicago News reported, is dark matter whose gravitational effect binds galaxies together. Both dark matter and dark energy stay unseen.

The DES seeks out the illumination of their invisible nature by surveying how the competition between them is shaping the large-scale structure of the universe over cosmic time.

To measure the dark matter's distribution, as well as the dark energy's effect, the DES depended mainly on on large-scale galaxies that are not randomly distributed throughout space but form a weblike structure that is caused by the dark matter's gravity. The DES also depended on the detection of the dark matter's weak gravitational signature.

Similar information is shown on Fermilab's YouTube video below: