Researchers at the University of Florida are helping scientists around the world better understand the structure and future of the cosmos.
Zachary Slepian, Ph.D., an associate professor of astronomy at UF, is part of the international collaboration behind the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, or DESI. The ambitious five-year survey has produced the largest high-resolution three-dimensional map of the universe ever created, charting the positions of more than 47 million galaxies and quasars across billions of years of cosmic history.
“DESI is a big U.S. Department of Energy survey of the sky, and it has resulted in the largest 3D map of the universe ever to be created by humankind,” Slepian said.
Mounted on the Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, DESI uses 5,000 robotic fiber optic positioners to collect light from thousands of galaxies at once. By splitting that light into its component colors, scientists can measure each galaxy’s distance and apparent motion due to both the Universe’s expansion and the galaxy’s own velocity, allowing them to build a massive three-dimensional map of the universe.