Largest sample of galaxies surveyed over an enormous piece of the sky The Dark Energy Survey has imaged roughly 5,000 square degrees of southern sky. June 9, 2021 New results from the Dark Energy Survey, or DES, use the largest-ever sample of galaxies over an enormous piece of the sky to produce the most precise measurements of the universe's composition and growth to date. Scientists funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation found that the way matter is distributed throughout the universe is consistent with predictions in the standard cosmological model, the best current model of the universe. Over the course of six years, DES surveyed 5,000 square degrees -- almost one-eighth of the entire sky -- in 758 nights of observation, cataloguing hundreds of millions of objects. The results draw on data from the first three years -- 226 million galaxies observed over 345 nights -- to create the largest and most precise maps yet of the distribution of galaxies in the universe at relatively recent epochs.