Search


	Podcast:		UC Science Today
	Episode:		A new sky mapping survey of the universe
	Category:		Science & Medicine
	Duration:		00:01:04
	Publish Date:		2016-02-22 00:00:00
	Description:		The universe is expanding at a rate faster than expected, possibly due to an invisible force in space called dark energy. Astrophysicist David Schlegel of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory says they’re looking to the sky for answers using a new sky mapping survey. "This is a project that’s designed to try to understand the nature of dark energy. We can look at a small patch of the sky and count how many galaxies that we see. And then assuming that every place that you look in the sky is approximately the same, then you just add up." The team is mapping one third of the visible sky by stitching together images taken by a telescope fit with a new wide-view camera. The data will eventually be used for what’s called the DESI project. The goal is to create the largest and most detailed 3D map of the universe. Until then, the public can view a current online collection of 400,000 galaxies, stars, and quasars at Legacysurvey.org.
	Total Play:		0