Center for Astrophysics
P. Marenfeld & NOAO/AURA/NSF
Cambridge, MA – In 1983, astrophysicists at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) released a cosmic map using 2,400 galaxies. Now, CfA scientists are aiming to map 30 million.
In the largest quest yet to map the universe, an international team of researchers is using DESI, or the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, to survey the skies. Observations officially began today, May 17, at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona; the mission will last five years with the goal of mapping 30 million galaxies.
By surveying a vast volume of space, the scientists of the DESI collaboration – including a dozen from the CfA – will be able to address a myriad of questions in modern cosmology: how does the early universe create large-scale structures, how does gravity cause matter to collect and form galaxies, and what might be driving the enigmatic acceleration of the expansion of the universe?
KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/P. Marenfeld
Astrophysicists at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) released a cosmic map using 2,400 galaxies in 1983. Now, CfA scientists are aiming to map 30 million.
In the largest quest yet to map the universe, an international team of researchers is using DESI, or the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, to survey the skies. Observations officially began today, May 17, at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona; the mission will last five years with the goal of mapping 30 million galaxies.
By surveying a vast volume of space, the scientists of the DESI collaboration, including a dozen from the CfA, will be able to address a myriad of questions in modern cosmology: how does the early universe create large-scale structures, how does gravity cause matter to collect and form galaxies, and what might be driving the enigmatic acceleration of the expansion of the universe?
Vijay MohanTribune News ServiceChandigarh, April 13
Astronomers have discovered a new active galaxy, identified as the farthest gamma-ray emitting galaxy, that has so far been stumbled upon. This act
Discovery provides insights into galaxy mergers in the early universe
Astronomers have discovered two pairs of quasars in the distant universe.
April 26, 2021
Astronomers have found two close pairs of quasars in the distant universe. The quasars are closer together than any pair of quasars found so far away, providing strong evidence for the existence of supermassive black hole pairs as well as insights into galaxy mergers in the early universe.
The results are published in
Quasars are the intensely bright cores of distant galaxies, powered by the feeding frenzies of supermassive black holes. These energetic objects profoundly affect galaxy formation and evolution, making observations of quasar pairs in the early universe a unique way for astronomers to investigate the evolution of merging galaxies. Quasar pairs also provide a natural laboratory in which to study the processes leading to the formation of binary supermassive black holes.