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At the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, an instrument with 5,000 tiny robotic eyes scans the night sky. Every 20 minutes, the instrument and the telescope it\u2019s attached to observe a new set of 5,000 galaxies. The instrument is called DESI\u2014Dark Energy Survey Instrument\u2014and once it\u2019s completed its five-year mission, it\u2019ll create the largest 3D map of the Universe ever created. <\/p>\n
But scientists are getting access to DESI\u2019s first data release and it suggests that dark energy may be evolving. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n DESI is the most powerful multi-object survey spectrograph in the world, according to their website. It\u2019s gathering the spectra for tens of millions of galaxies and quasars. The goal is a 3D map of the Universe that extends out to 11 billion light-years. That map will help explain how dark energy has driven the Universe\u2019s expansion.<\/p>\n DESI began in 2021 and is a five-year mission. The first year of data has been released, and scientists with the project say that DESI has successfully measured the expansion of the Universe over the last 11 billion years with extreme precision. <\/p>\n \u201cThe DESI team has set a new standard for studies of large-scale structure in the Universe.\u201d <\/p>\n Pat McCarthy, NOIRLab Director<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n DESI collects light from 5,000 objects at once with its 5,000 robotic eyes. It observes a new set of 5,000 objects every 20 minutes, which means it observes 100,000 objects\u2014galaxies and quasars\u2014each night, given the right observing conditions.<\/p>\n DESI\u2019s data creates a map of the large-scale structure of the Universe. The map will help scientists unravel the history of the Universe\u2019s expansion and the role dark energy plays. We don\u2019t know what dark energy is, but we know some force is causing the Universe\u2019s expansion to accelerate. <\/p>\n \u201cThe DESI instrument has transformed the Mayall Telescope into the world\u2019s premier cosmic cartography machine,\u201d said Pat McCarthy, Director of NOIRLab, the organization behind DESI. \u201cThe DESI team has set a new standard for studies of large-scale structure in the Universe. These first-year data are only the beginning of DESI\u2019s quest to unravel the expansion history of the Universe, and they hint at the extraordinary science to come.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\n