"Most detailed map of the universe ever" being charted by DESI
The five-year mission of the DESI collaboration – to decipher the history and evolution of spacetime – only launched last May, yet has already created the most detailed map of galaxies in the history of astronomy.
The DESI survey has already cataloged over 7.5 million galaxies and is adding more at a rate of over a million a month. In November 2021 alone, DESI cataloged redshifts from 2.5 million galaxies. By the end of its run in 2026, DESI is expected to have over 35 million galaxies in its catalog, enabling an enormous, and so far unsurpassed, variety of cosmology and astrophysics research.
“We aim to observe on the order of 30 million galaxies,” says Will Percival, a Perimeter Associate Faculty member who is cross-appointed as a Distinguished Research Chair in Astrophysics at the University of Waterloo, where he is the director of the Waterloo Centre for Astrophysics.
Read the full news release about DESI's discoveries and future.
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About PI
Perimeter Institute is the world’s largest research hub devoted to theoretical physics. The independent Institute was founded in 1999 to foster breakthroughs in the fundamental understanding of our universe, from the smallest particles to the entire cosmos. Research at Perimeter is motivated by the understanding that fundamental science advances human knowledge and catalyzes innovation, and that today’s theoretical physics is tomorrow’s technology. Located in the Region of Waterloo, the not-for-profit Institute is a unique public-private endeavour, including the Governments of Ontario and Canada, that enables cutting-edge research, trains the next generation of scientific pioneers, and shares the power of physics through award-winning educational outreach and public engagement.
