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University of Michigan
Star trails take shape around the 14-story Mayall Telescope dome in this long-exposure image. The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument was installed inside this dome. Image credit: P. Marenfeld and NOAO/AURA/NSF
A five-year quest to map the universe and unravel the mysteries of “dark energy” is beginning officially today, and University of Michigan researchers were instrumental in the project’s development.
The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, or DESI, is an international collaboration under the aegis of the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory with primary funding from DOE’s Office of Science. The project aims to create a 3D map of the universe, unraveling the mysterious dark energy. To complete its quest, the instrument will capture and study the light from tens of millions of galaxies and other distant objects in the universe.
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Successful Start of Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument Follows Record-Setting Trial Run
The disk of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), which spans more than 3 degrees, is targeted by a single DESI pointing, represented by the large, pale green, circular overlay. The smaller circles within this overlay represent the regions accessible to each of the 5000 DESI robotic fiber positioners. In this sample, the 5000 spectra that were simultaneously collected by DESI include not only stars within the Andromeda Galaxy, but also distant galaxies and quasars. The example DESI spectrum that overlays this image is of a distant quasar (QSO) 11 billion years old. (Credit: DESI collaboration and DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys)
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A five-year quest to map the universe and unravel the mysteries of dark energy is beginning officially today, and University of Michigan researchers were instrumental in the project s development.
The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, or DESI, is an international collaboration under the aegis of the Department of Energy s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory with primary funding from DOE s Office of Science. The project aims to create a 3D map of the universe, unraveling the mysterious dark energy. To complete its quest, the instrument will capture and study the light from tens of millions of galaxies and other distant objects in the universe.
AI Finds More Than 1,200 Gravitational Lensing Candidates
A research team with participation by Berkeley Lab physicists has used artificial intelligence to identify more than 1,200 possible gravitational lenses – objects that can be powerful markers for the distribution of dark matter. The count, if all of the candidates turn out to be lenses, would more than double the number of known gravitational lenses.
Gravitational lenses result from large celestial objects, like galaxies or galaxy clusters, that bend the path of light traveling from more distant galaxies. When these chance alignments are almost perfect, this creates false images that can include rings, partial rings, multiple images, and other illusions.