DESI Opens Access to the Largest 3D Map of the Universe Yet

Although DR1 is just a fraction of what DESI will eventually produce, the 270-terabyte dataset represents a staggering amount of information, including precise distances to millions of galaxies. The release contains more than twice as many extragalactic objects (those found outside our galaxy) as have been collected in all previous 3D surveys combined. Within its first year of operations, DESI became the single largest spectroscopic redshift survey ever conducted, sometimes capturing data on more than 1 million objects in a single month. For comparison, its predecessor, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), collected light from 9 million unique objects over roughly 25 years of operations. In 2024, DESI researchers used the data in DR1 to create the largest 3D map of our universe to date and make world-leading measurements of dark energy. “The DESI project has maintained the pace of making 3D maps of the universe that are 10 times larger every decade,” said David Schlegel, one of the l ... Read full article.