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AI has identified more than 1,2o0 new possible gravitational lenses, which could help unravel the mysteries of dark matter.
The lenses are formed when a vast amount of matter â like a cluster of galaxies â bends the direction of light traveling from more distant galaxies. The lenses then typically appear as arcs and streaks.
These images can help scientists infer the existence of dark matter â which the naked eye canât see â by observing its gravitational effects on the visible matter.
Unfortunately, theyâre seriously hard to spot.
âOnly when a galaxy is hidden directly behind a giant galaxy is a lens possible to see,â said Xiaosheng Huang from the University of San Francisco, the study lead author. âWhen we started this project in 2018, there were only about 300 confirmed strong lenses.â
Doubling the Number of Known Gravitational Lenses
Machine learning key to discovery of over 1200 gravitational lenses
CosmoView Episode 19: Doubling the Number of Known Gravitational Lenses
KPNO/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Legacy Imaging Survey
Gravitational lenses found in the DESI Legacy Survey data. Examples of gravitational lenses found in the DESI Legacy Survey data.
KPNO/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Legacy Imaging Survey
Gravitational lens found in the DESI Legacy Survey data. An example of a gravitational lens found in the DESI Legacy Surveys data. The nearly complete circle in the middle of DESI-015.6763-14.0150 is the image of a background galaxy, gravitationally warped (lensed) by the red galaxy at the center into a near-perfect Einstein ring.
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VIDEO: This is CosmoView Episode 18 for press release noirlab2103: Giant Map of the Sky Sets Stage for Ambitious DESI Survey view more
Credit: Images and Videos:
KPNO/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Legacy Imaging Survey, P. Marenfeld, D. Munizaga, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.
Music: Stellardrone - Airglow.
Astronomers using images from Kitt Peak National Observatory and Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory have created the largest ever map of the sky, comprising over a billion galaxies. The ninth and final data release from the ambitious DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys sets the stage for a ground-breaking 5-year survey with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), which aims to provide new insights into the nature of dark energy. The map was released today at the January 2021 meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
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IMAGE: Sky distribution of the latest DESI imaging data release from the website of the DESI imaging legacy surveys. The enlarged image is part of the sky showing the DESI spectroscopic. view more
Credit: DESI website
The Beijing-Arizona Sky Survey (BASS) team of National Astronomical Observatories of Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) and their collaborators of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) project released a giant 2D map of the universe, which paves the way for the upcoming new-generation dark energy spectroscopic survey.
Modern astronomical observations reveal that the universe is expanding and appears to be accelerating. The power driving the expansion of the universe is called dark energy by astronomers. The dark energy is still a mystery and accounts for about 68% of the substance of the universe.
Building a Giant 2D Map of the Universe to Prepare for the Largest 3D Map
Nearly 200 researchers pitched in to gather, process, and stitch together images for half of the sky to prepare for the start of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument’s observations
January 13, 2021
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This video describes the monumental effort that went into constructing a 2D map of the universe to prepare for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, which will produce the largest-ever 3D map of the universe. The final data release for the preparation of this 2D map, known as Data Release 9 or DR9, was distributed Jan. 13. (Credit: Marilyn Sargent/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)