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DESI Legacy Imaging Survey Unveils Largest 2D Map of the Universe
Confirmed
In Short: The DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys have released the largest 2D color map of the universe, covering 75% of the sky and providing a deep view of the extragalactic universe.
The DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys have unveiled the largest 2D color map of the universe, covering approximately 75% of the sky in visible and near-infrared light. This map, built by combining 263,407 telescope exposures from three ground-based sky surveys, is a significant milestone in astronomical research.
According to David Schlegel, a co-lead of the Legacy Surveys and scientist at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the map is 'part of the fabric of astronomy research now.' The data is publicly available through the Legacy Survey Sky Viewer, allowing astronomers and citizen scientists to explore and combine it with their own observations.
The map provides a deep view of the extragalactic universe, not blocked by the dust and stars of our Milky Way, and is expected to remain the most comprehensive 2D map of our universe for years to come. Researchers can use it to search for rare phenomena like gravitational lenses, observe fleeting events such as supernovae, and investigate the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy.
Arjun Dey, co-lead of the Legacy Surveys and an astronomer at NSF NOIRLab, stated, 'For our team, these data are fundamental to our investigation of the expansion history of the universe and the formation of our galaxy.' DESI expects to publish improved results using their first five years of data in 2027 and is continuing observations into 2028.
The project was commissioned in 2012 to measure the effect of dark energy, the mysterious force driving the expansion of the cosmos. Since then, the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys has obtained optical spectra for tens of millions of galaxies and quasars using the NOIRLab’s Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory.
What's confirmed
What's still developing
- To date, more than 1,800 science papers that reference the Legacy Surveys data have been published.
- Early on, “it became clear we might run out of galaxies to look at and run out of sky, and we better start doing something about that,” said Schlegel, who also works on DESI.
- The new map builds on earlier versions from the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys that have already proved invaluable.