Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), which is a highly-advanced and exceptional equipment, is set to be used for the formulation of a three-dimensional map of the universe.
The approval of the use of DESI by the US Department of Energy (DOE) authorizes the project's scientific scope, funding and schedule. Moreover, the backing of the DOE assures that the project will receive ample support in the coming years.
Beginning in 2018, the project involving DESI will be performed on the Mayall four-meter telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory located in Arizona.
The approval received by the DESI team from the DOE includes allowing the researchers to measure dark energy through the aid of baryon acoustic oscillations and other methods that are assited by spectroscopic measurements.
In the upcoming project, the DESI team will identify the impact of dark energy on the expansion of the universe by collating optical spectra for about 30 millions galaxies and quasars, devising a 3D map that presents the proximal universe to about 10 billion light years.
To create the said map, the experts will be using DESI's redshift information. Redshift pertains to the change exhibited by a distant cosmic material from its original spectrum to a longer or redder wavelenghts. Through this data, the extent with which space has stretched while the light travels from the material to the observer may be measured directly. The larger the redshift, the older the material.
The prized map is said to demonstrate the competition between dark energy and gravity over time to mold the current shape of the universe, including the ordinary merging of galaxies and dark matter on the biggest levels as well as the interesting movements of each galaxy.
"DESI will push science further than we have ever gone before," said Shirley Ho, the Cooper-Siegel Assistant Professor of Physics in Carnegie Mellon's College of Science.
The map will showcase the universe in its very young stage and this will boost experts' knowledge about dark matter, dark energy and other ambiguous concepts about the universe.
Some 200 astronomers and physicists will comprise the international DESI Collaboration based at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) of the DOE.
DESI's project is a multi-organizational collaboration between 31 universities and 18 private and governmental organizations, both inside and outside of the US.
Photo: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center | Flickr
