As a result of an international scientific collaboration, the Beijing-Arizona Sky Survey (BASS) of the NAOC (National Astronomical Observatories of China) and the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) have conceived a truly gigantic map of the universe.
It digitally extends over 10 trillion pixels and contains around 2 billion objects. Astronomical observations reveal that the universe is expanding and appears to be accelerating.
10 billion pixels
To create this monster map, nearly 200 researchers from NAOC and DESI looked at galaxies and analyzed the data together over the past six years.
Now, DESI will carry out a five-year mission to obtain the redshifts of millions of galaxies and build the largest 3D universe. In this way the mystery of dark energy is intended to be solved: the matter that drives the expansion of the universe.
Of all the matter in the visible universe, only one 4% is normal matter, like the stuff from which all the things we know are made. A 23% is made of dark (invisible) matter, which physicists sense exists but don't know what it is. The remaining 73%, that is, almost all the matter in the universe, is dark energy, which is also invisible.
The Beijing-Arizona Sky Survey (BASS) and the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) International cooperation project team jointly released the new two-dimensional sky map, paving the way for the upcoming new generation cosmological redshifts survey. (photo/BASS) pic.twitter.com/5oiCYrC6Qp
— China Science (@ChinaScience) January 14, 2021
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The news
This new 2D map of the universe is gigantic and has around 2 billion objects
was originally published in
Xataka Science
by
Sergio Parra
.