With an unprecedented precision aimed at reaching a better understanding of the universe's expansion, a US-based telescope named DESI has started observations that will be used to create a three dimensional map of our universe, said the managers of this international project.
To observe and analyze 35 million galaxies in different phases of the universe's history, the spectroscopic instrument installed in Arizona Desert for the five coming years will focus its 5,000 "detectors" made from optical fibers, on the sky during the night, according to AFP.
The data provided by DESI will help scientists understand the mysterious power called the "dark energy," responsible for the universe's exponential expansion, according the US Department of Energy's Berkeley Lab overseeing the project.
The expansion of the universe increases the distance separating galaxies from each other. The more the distance increases, the more light is emitted towards the long waves of the detected spectrum, creating a red alignment, explained the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) partaking in this mission.
By analyzing the galaxies' active radiation, DESI will be able to measure this red alignment linked to the velocity of the expansion, and thus providing data on the distance separating these galaxies from the Earth. Then, astronomers will be able to draw a three dimensional map featuring "new details proving that galaxies' spectrums are ten times larger than" the ones known today, according to CEA.
Christoph Yish, cosmologist at CEA, said "the telescope can observe up to 5,000 spectrums from the galaxies within 20 minutes."
Researchers hope the detailed distribution of these spectrums on the map would help them better understand the nature of dark energy, and its impact. This invisible component in the universe acts like an expelling power that could explain the reason behind the accelerating expansion of the universe within billions of years.
