This is a map of the universe.
The
Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) at
Kitt Peak National Observatory,
Arizona, has finished its
five-year survey.
It observed more than 47 million galaxies and quasars and created a
3D map centered on the Earth.
Today's
featured image shows a thin slice of these data: the black gaps indicate where
our Galaxy obscures distant objects.
The feathery web in the inset shows the
large scale structure of the universe.
Light of the most distant galaxies shown here travelled for
11 billion years to reach the Earth.
Galaxies cluster throughout
cosmic history under the competing influences of
gravity and
dark energy, responsible for the
accelerated expansion of the universe.
Analysis of
early DESI results hinted at the possibility that dark energy, described as a cosmological constant by
Albert Einstein, may not be constant after all.
But we still have to wait for the analysis of the now complete dataset.
The nature of dark energy is the biggest
mystery of cosmology.