An international collaboration of scientists makes the most detailed 3D map of the universe ever. The US Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California leads the collaboration in using the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) to survey the galaxies in the cosmos.
DESI has recently concluded its first seven months of surveying the universe and will continue until its fifth year. So far, they have already mapped 7.5 million out of 35 million galaxies that they surveyed one by one to create a "phenomenally detailed 3D map" that will help explain the expansion of the universe. It will give scientists an idea of how it all began and where it is going next, or whether it will continue to expand or collapse in the future.
DESI Breaking New Ground in Creating the Map of the Universe
Scientists have observed that the universe is expanding significantly, contrary to what the Big Bang Theory states that it could stop or collapse. To confirm this, an international collaboration of scientists from the US, China, Spain, the UK, France, and many other countries created DESI, which involves 5,000 automated mini telescopes that captures an image of a new galaxy every 20 minutes.
According to MailOnline, the team is already seeing new patterns and structures through the new map of the universe. Project scientist Dr. Julien Guy from the University of California, Berkeley, said that the distribution of galaxies in the 3D map showed huge clusters, filaments, and voids, the biggest cosmic structures. Within them are imprints of the early universe and its history of expansion.
Professor Carlos Frenk from Durham University commends DESI because despite being only in its early stages, it already helped scientists break new ground in mapping the cosmos and provided the most detailed map ever. He said that it will help scientists to understand the nature of dark energy and learn about dark matter, its role in the cosmos, and how the universe is evolving.
Aside from DESI, the state-of-the-art fiber-optic system that splits light from objects in space also helped create the 3D map of the universe. It revealed different bands of colors that represented galaxies and stars. Scientists said that DESI's data could go way back 11 billion years ago to reveal clues of the evolution of galaxies and quasars.
Why Is It Important to Understand the Expansion of the Universe?
According to an article published on the news page of the Ohio State University, it is crucial to understand the history of the expansion of the universe to learn more about dark matter and how it influences the future of the universe. Dark energy makes up approximately 70% of the universe today.
The mysterious form of cosmic energy accelerates the universe's expansion. Scientists theorize that more dark energy pops up as the universe continues to expand. By learning the acceleration of the expansion, researchers believe that they can predict its impact on the universe's future, which is what exactly DESI is made for.
But in the meantime, since DESI is still on its 10% of mapping the universe, understanding this impact will have to wait. Nonetheless, it has already contributed significant information about the cosmos and will give more insights in the coming years.
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