The most detailed 3D map of the Universe ever made
A survey of the southern sky has reconstructed how mass is spread across space and time, in the biggest study of its kind. The data provide striking evidence that dark energy, the force that appears to be pushing the Universe to accelerate its expansion, has been constant throughout cosmic history.
The Dark Energy Survey (DES) collaboration revealed its results in an online briefing on 27 May and in several papers posted online.
The DES team observed the sky between 2013 and 2019 using a 570-megapixel camera at the Víctor M. Blanco telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. The survey covered one-quarter of the southern sky, and its exposures included 300 million galaxies. [Continue reading…]