https://www.universetoday.com/14639...r-answers-to-explain-dark-energy/#more-146390 A New Telescope is Ready to Start Searching for Answers to Explain Dark Energy: Back in 2015, construction began on a new telescope called the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). Later this year, it will begin its five-year mission. Its goal? To create a 3D map of the Universe with unprecedented detail, showing the distribution of matter. That detailed map will allow astronomers to investigate important aspects of cosmology, including dark energy and its role in the expansion of the Universe. DESI is a collaboration between several nations: the USA, UK, France, Spain, and Mexico, with the USA’s Department of Energy Office of Science being the principal funder. Several other institutions and foundations have also contributed. DESI itself is a powerful spectrograph, and it’s being built onto the existing 4m Mayall Telescope at the Kitt Peak Observatory in Arizona. At its heart, DESI is 5,000 individual, pencil-sized robots. Each of the 5,000 robots controls a single fiber-optic eye, and together they capture a spectra over a wavelength range from 360 nm to 980 nm. It’ll “see” from the near ultraviolet, through visible light, and into the infrared portion of the electrmagnetic spectrum. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! This image shows the spectrum captured by a single one of DESI’s 5,000 fiber-optic eyes. The target is M33, the Triangulum Galaxy. The spectrum reveals the presence of certain elements, and helps measure the distance to the galaxy. Image Credit: DESI Collaboration; Legacy Surveys; NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA Once it’s operating, each of DESIs 5,000 eyes will observe a single, pre-selected galaxy at a time. Under best conditions, it’ll complete a set of 5,000 galaxy observations every two minutes, before the entire telescope slews its focal plane to its next set of targets. DESI will repeatedly map the distance to the same 35 million galaxies and 2.4 million quasars, covering about one-third of the sky in its five years of operation. By the end of its observing program, we’ll have a map of the expansion of that part of the Universe over a five year time period. more at link................. extract: Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! DESI’s focal planet contains 5,000 robotic, fiber-optic eyes. Image Credit: DESI Collaboration
With the "DESI" along with the "JWST" and the new investigative methodology of gravitational waves, the future looks promising.
