{"id":547,"date":"2026-04-17T10:24:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T10:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/?p=547"},"modified":"2026-04-17T10:24:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T10:24:00","slug":"desis-3d-map-of-the-universe-has-been-completed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/?p=547","title":{"rendered":"DESI&#8217;s 3D map of the universe has been completed."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"DESI observations over five years (with constellations)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tZudD_PpjCU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/><em>This visualization shows how DESI&#8217;s 3D map of the universe has been accumulated over five years. It starts with DESI tiles in the night sky, each observing about 5,000 galaxies. Moving to see the observations in 3D, you&#8217;ll see how DESI maps the cosmic web of filaments and voids. The Earth is at the center of the wedge, and every point represents a galaxy. Image via DESI Collaboration and DESI Member Institutions\/DOE\/KPNO\/NOIRLab\/NSF\/AURA\/R. Proctor.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Science news, night sky events and beautiful photography all in one place.<\/strong> Click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>dark energy spectrometer<\/strong> Created one of the most extensive explorations of the universe ever undertaken. A five-year investigation has been completed.<\/li>\n<li><strong>DESI has mapped more than 47 million galaxies and quasars.<\/strong> This is the largest high-resolution 3D map of the universe ever.<\/li>\n<li><strong>DESI will continue observing until 2028<\/strong> Then zoom in on the map. This observation helps astronomers understand how dark energy works in the universe.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>NOIRLab published this original story on April 15, 2026. Edited by EarthSky.<\/p>\n<h3>DESI&#8217;s 3D map of the universe has been completed.<\/h3>\n<p>On Tuesday night, April 14, 2026, the 5,000 fiber-optic eyes of the Dark Energy Spectrometer (DESI) circled into a part of the sky near the Big Dipper. Roughly every 20 minutes, it picked up on a needle of light in the distance, collecting photons that had traveled toward Earth over billions of years. As the sun rose, the equipment achieved a major milestone. It successfully explored all areas of the planned 3D map of the universe.<\/p>\n<p>The five-year expedition ended ahead of schedule, yielding far more data than expected and creating the largest high-resolution 3D map of the universe ever created. Researchers will use the map to investigate dark energy, the fundamental element that makes up about 70% of the universe and is driving its accelerating expansion.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_543281\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-543281\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-543281\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">View enlarged. |This is just a small portion of DESI&#8217;s 5-year map. You can see the large-scale structure of the universe created by gravity. Each dot represents a galaxy. Dense regions indicate areas where galaxies and galaxy clusters are clumping together to form threads of the cosmic web. Large voids can also be seen between the filaments. Image via DESI Collaboration and DESI Member Institutions\/DOE\/KPNO\/NOIRLab\/NSF\/AURA\/R. Proctor. Image processing: M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>DESI&#8217;s mission<\/h3>\n<p>DESI&#8217;s quest to understand dark energy is a global effort. This international experiment brings together the expertise of more than 900 researchers (including 300 PhD students) from more than 70 institutions. The U.S. Department of Energy&#8217;s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) is managing the project. The device was constructed and operated with funding from the DOE Office of Science. DESI is installed on the National Science Foundation Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope at NSF Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) in Arizona through the NSF NOIRLab program.<\/p>\n<p>By comparing the past clustering of galaxies with their current distribution, researchers can trace the influence of dark energy over the 11 billion year history of the universe. Using DESI&#8217;s first three years of data, the surprising results suggested what was once thought to be dark energy. <em>cosmological constant<\/em>may have evolved over time.<\/p>\n<p>With a complete set of five years of data, researchers would have much more information to test whether the hints disappear or increase. If confirmed, it would signal a major shift in the way we think about our universe and its potential fate, which depends on the balance of matter and dark energy.<\/p>\n<h3>successful space mapping project<\/h3>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re thrilled to be working with the astronomers,&#8221; said Stephanie Juneau, DESI associate astronomer and NSF NOIRLab representative.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>It is impossible to know everything that happened to make the DESI experiment so successful. It literally took a village, from instrument manufacturers and software engineers to technicians, observatory staff, and scientists (including many early career researchers). Ultimately, we are doing this for all of humanity to better understand the universe and its ultimate destiny. After finding hints that dark energy may deviate from the constant and change its fate, this moment feels like sitting on the edge of your seat while you analyze new maps to see if those hints are confirmed. We are also very intrigued by the many other discoveries that await with this new dataset.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re thrilled to be working with the Department of Energy,&#8221; said Kathy Turner, Space Frontiers Program Manager in the Department of Energy&#8217;s Office of High Energy Physics. <\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The Dark Energy Spectrometer truly exceeds all expectations, providing an unprecedented 3D map of the universe that will revolutionize our understanding of dark energy. From the beginning, we envisioned a project that would push the boundaries of cosmology, and it is extremely rewarding to see the original survey completed so successfully and ahead of schedule, with such a wealth of data. The dedication and ingenuity of the entire DESI collaboration has made this world-leading science a reality. We are extremely proud of the groundbreaking results we have already seen and the discoveries yet to come as we continue to explore the mysteries of the universe.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>What\u2019s next for DESI?<\/h3>\n<p>DESI has now measured six times more galaxy and quasar cosmological data than all previous measurements combined. The collaboration will begin processing the completed dataset immediately, and the first dark energy results from the full five-year study are expected in 2027. In the meantime, DESI collaborators will continue to analyze data from the first three years of the study, refine dark energy measurements, produce additional results on the structure and evolution of the universe, and plan to publish several papers later this year.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re thrilled to be able to provide this new technology,&#8221; said Michael Levi, director of DESI and a scientist at Berkeley Lab. <\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>We celebrate the completion of our first survey and then begin to comb through the data. Because everyone is interested in what new surprises await us.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The mission was to capture light from 34 million galaxies and quasars (very distant but bright objects with a black hole at their center) over a five-year survey of the sky. Instead, DESI observed more than 47 million galaxies and quasars and 20 million stars.<\/p>\n<h3>Zoom in on the 3D map of the universe<\/h3>\n<p>DESI plans to continue observing until 2028, expanding the map by about 20% from 14,000 square degrees to 17,000 square degrees. (For comparison, the moon covers about 0.2 square degrees and the sky is over 41,000 square degrees). The expanded map covers parts of the sky that are more difficult to observe. These are regions close to the plane of the Milky Way, where nearby stars are so bright that distant objects can be difficult to see. It also includes areas farther south, where telescopes will need to peer into more of Earth&#8217;s atmosphere. <\/p>\n<p>The experiment will also revisit existing areas of the map to collect data from a new set of galaxies: more distant, dimmer, and reddish galaxies. These will provide an even denser and more detailed map of the areas already covered by DESI, giving researchers a clearer picture of the history of the universe.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers also plan to study nearby dwarf galaxies and star streams, bands of stars ripped apart from smaller galaxies by the Milky Way&#8217;s gravity. The hope is to better understand dark matter, an invisible substance that makes up most of the mass of the universe but has never been directly detected.<\/p>\n<p>Bottom line: Astronomers have completed the largest and most detailed 3D map of the universe ever created. It charts tens of millions of galaxies and quasars to reveal how dark energy shapes the universe.<\/p>\n<p>Via NOIRLab<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"cp-load-after-post\"\/><\/div>\n<p>#DESIs #map #universe #completed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This visualization shows how DESI&#8217;s 3D map of the universe has been accumulated over five years. It starts with DESI tiles in the night sky, each observing about 5,000 galaxies. Moving to see the observations in 3D, you&#8217;ll see how DESI maps the cosmic web of filaments and voids. The Earth is at the center &#8230; <a title=\"DESI&#8217;s 3D map of the universe has been completed.\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/?p=547\" aria-label=\"Read more about DESI&#8217;s 3D map of the universe has been completed.\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[881,879,880,543,789],"class_list":["post-547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-completed","tag-desis","tag-map","tag-space","tag-universe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}