The DESI Legacy Imaging Survey Releases the Largest 2-D Map of the Universe
The DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys team has released its eleventh data set, creating the largest 2D map of the universe to date. The map includes nearly four billion celestial objects and covers 75% of the sky, serving as a vital resource for modern astronomical research.
Why it matters
This comprehensive map provides scientists with unprecedented data to study dark energy and the expansion of the cosmos.
In 2012, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) was commissioned to measure the effect of Dark Energy, the mysterious force that is 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 (KPNO). In recent news, the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys team made its eleventh data release (DR 11), constituting the largest-ever 2D map of the Universe.
The 5.6-trillion-pixel map contains nearly four billion celestial objects, including stars, galaxies, black holes, and asteroids. It covers roughly 75% of the sky in visible and near-infrared light, providing a deep view of the extragalactic Universe, and is available to the public through the Legacy Survey Sky Viewer .
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