Dark Matter Map Unveils First Results

Peter Lobner

The Dark Energy Survey (DES) is designed to probe the origin of the accelerating universe and help uncover the nature of dark energy by measuring the 14-billion-year history of cosmic expansion with high precision. The survey involves more than 300 scientists from six countries and uses images taken by one of the best digital cameras in the world: the 570-megapixel Dark Energy Camera (DECam), mounted on the Victor Blanco telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, 500 km north of Santiago at an altitude of 2,200 meters in the Chilean Andes. For more information on this collaborative program, refer to the DES website at the following link:

http://www.darkenergysurvey.org

Two years into this survey, the DES team presented the first detailed map of dark matter concentrations in a very small sector of the sky.

image  Source: DES

The initial map covers just 0.4% of the sky, but in unprecedented detail. Eventually, DES plans to map one-eighth of the sky. Read details about this initial dark matter map at the following link:

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-32284995?utm_source=howtogeek&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter