Looking at the three-dimensional animation of the space map created by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) highlights the gigantic dimensions of the universe. The image captures more than seven million galaxies in the direction of the Virgo constellation 5.8 billion light-years from Earth.

3D map of the area from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Project. The earth is trapped in the lower left corner. | Source:
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Lawrence Berkeley (Berkeley Lab), the US National Operator for DESI, has published his own map animation. Server. What can be read from the detailed map itself?

“It simply came to our notice then. On the 3D map you can see large clusters, filaments and compartments in Galaxy Layout. They are the largest structure in the universe. On the map you will find the imprint of the early universe and the history of its expansion, “The server quotes New Atlas Julian Guy, an astronomer working on the DESI project.

A look into the alien distances of space

Located on the Kit Peak Mayal Telescope in Arizona, DESI captures light from space and transmits it through lenses to ten spectrographs via optical cables controlled by 5,000 robotic positioners. These instruments divide light into a frequency spectrum and analyze its colors.

The analysis is based on the expansion and redshift of the universe, i.e. the knowledge that light from distant galaxies extends – Its wavelength changes to the red end of the spectrum. Simply put, even more red galaxies are far away from us. This effect is also noticeable on the map.

Signs of the stars above the Mayal telescope. | Source:
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“DESI is really good because it picks up faint and red objects that we have never seen before, and we find many foreign systems that we could not study in detail before,” said Victoria Fawcett, an astronomer at the University of Durham on the Web. Berkeley Lab.

We’ll see

The map and its animations were created in 2021 during the first seven months of DESI’s operation. By the end of the project in 2026, astronomers will have mapped more than 35 million galaxies, extending up to 11 billion light-years.

This database brings to light new mysteries about galaxies, black holes, quasars, and dark energy – a mysterious force that is accelerating the expansion of the universe.

The main goal of the DESI project is to reveal the secrets of dark energy, which makes up 68 percent of the universe’s mass and energy.