Using images from the Kitt Peak National Observatory and the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, a team of astronomers has created the largest map of the sky, comprising more than one billion galaxies. The result is fascinating and has taken a not inconsiderable amount of one million gigabytes, approximately, processed during 100 million hours in one of the most powerful supercomputers on the globe.
We have before us an incredible new map of the universe. The two-dimensional imaging is the culmination of six years of work on the legacy image surveys of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). It is the largest to date in terms of sky coverage, sensitivity, and total number of galaxies.
How to explore the map?
We can consult it freely and, in its entirety, through its website. It contains 10 trillion pixels, which is equivalent to 833,000 high resolution mobile photos. It was created in the course of 1,405 nights of observation in three observatories: Kitt Peak National Observatory, Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory and NASA’s Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), to which must be added the work of 150 observers and 50 more researchers. The result is spectacular.
Taking into account that for millennia we humans have used maps to understand and navigate our world, astronomical maps also serve this purpose, but on a large scale: they locate us within the cosmos and tell the history and destiny of the universe. , its accelerated expansion process.
What will be done with this map?
The newly presented map of the current universe that covers half the sky has been made in 2D, but this work is only the beginning. Now, out of the more than 1 billion galaxies that can be found on the map, astronomers will select tens of millions (35 million galaxies and 2.4 million quasars) for further study with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). ), in order to build the largest 3D map ever made , something that will provide us with new data on the nature of dark energy, that elusive form of energy that would be pressing to accelerate the expansion of the universe.
Over the next five years, experts will measure the distance of these galaxies and quasars, some of which are expected to be 12 billion light-years away. The ultimate goal will be the creation of this giant three-dimensional map of the universe, which will give us a much clearer picture of the distribution of galaxies in the cosmos and the speed at which the universe is expanding.
“To solve some of the biggest mysteries in fundamental physics today, we are driven to create huge digital databases of stars and galaxies, which in turn enable a new data mining approach to make additional astronomical discoveries.” commented Adam Bolton, Community Director for NOIRLab Science and Data Center and a co-author of the research.
To the nature of dark energy .
Referencia: Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA). “Giant map of the sky sets stage for ambitious DESI survey: Final data release from DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys issued.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 14 January 2021
