Video: The making of the largest 3-D map of the universe

Phys.org ^ | 4/15/2019 | Staff

[simpson96]

DESI, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, will mobilize 5,000 swiveling robots – each one pointing a thin strand of fiber-optic cable – to gather the light from about 35 million galaxies.

The little robots are designed to fix on a series of preselected sky objects that are as distant as 12 billion light-years away. By studying how these galaxies are drifting away from us, DESI will provide precise measurements of the accelerating rate at which the universe is expanding.

This expansion rate is caused by an invisible force known as dark energy, which is one of the biggest mysteries in astrophysics and accounts for an estimated 68 percent of all mass and energy in the universe.

In this video, DESI project participants share their insight and excitement about the project and its potential for new and unexpected discoveries.

[video link] The Making of the Largest 3D Map of the Universe

[ClearCase_guy]

“I have a map of the United States... Actual size. It says, 'Scale: 1 mile = 1 mile.' I spent last summer folding it. I hardly ever unroll it. People ask me where I live, and I say, 'E6.” ― Steven Wright

[Vaquero]

Interesting! They show the swiveling laser/fiber optics but I do not believe they show the resulting 3D image. As they are still working on it, i assume.

The traveling through a star field at the beginning, looks like a Star Trek TOS clip.

[equaviator]

There’s nothing like the universe to bring you down to earth.

[politicianslie]

Anyone with an IQ much above dirt might say when faced with having to come up with fudge factors like dark energy and dark matter that something is probably wrong with their base theories.

Instead, they keep digging deeper and deeper!

[jeffc]

...objects that are as distant as 12 billion light-years away.

Not anymore. All we can see is what was there 12 billion years ago. I wonder how far away they are now?

[SunTzuWu]

Bump for later reading.

[Seruzawa]

For all we know the observable universe is 0.0001% of the total.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks simpson96.

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