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Dark Energy Survey @TheDESurvey
RT @Fermilab:What was it like for @theDESurvey crew on the final night of observations? This 360 video shows the view from the m… https://t.co/gkTfZHLBJP

Jan 15 reply retweet favorite 1 day ago

Dark Energy Survey @TheDESurvey
Tomorrow (Tuesday) at 3 ET, DEScientist Ross Cawthon will be a guest on @DeepAstronomy for a live discussion about… https://t.co/GLfm6P8ckb

Jan 15 reply retweet favorite 2 days ago

Dark Energy Survey @TheDESurvey
Check out this great video by DEScientist Daniel Gruen about one of the last DES observing projects, a deep image o… https://t.co/Cpwdb4s06k

Jan 14 reply retweet favorite 2 days ago

Dark Energy Survey @TheDESurvey
Check out this great video by DEScientist Daniel Gruen about one of the last DES observing projects, a deep image o… https://t.co/4XxSmEZo6P

Jan 14 reply retweet favorite 2 days ago

Dark Energy Survey @TheDESurvey
RT @SanfordLab:In honor of the @theDESurvey's completion this week of it's six year, in-depth scan of a quarter of the southern sk… https://t.co/FxJm6cQfNI

Jan 13 reply retweet favorite 4 days ago

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The Dark Energy Survey shared Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory's post.
1 day ago
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
What was it like for The Dark Energy Survey crew on the final night of data-taking? This 360 video shows the view from the mountain. You can learn more about DES completing its six-year mission here: news.fnal.gov/2019/01/dark-energy-survey-completes-six-year-mission/

Video by Thomas H. Puzia. ... See MoreSee Less
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The Dark Energy Survey
2 days ago
Tomorrow (Tuesday) at 3 ET, DEScientist Ross Cawthon (University of Wisconsin-Madison) will be a guest on Deep Astronomy for a live discussion about the Dark Energy Survey! You can tune in on the DeepAstronomy page, or at this link on Youtube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfQ3btqUvgQTelescope Talk Hangouts are sponsored by OPT Telescopes: bit.ly/2SwhmVB There are multiple searches underway to try and find the characteristics of t... ... See MoreSee Less
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The Dark Energy Survey
2 days ago
Check out this great video by DEScientist Daniel Gruen (Stanford University) about one of the last DES observing projects, a deep image of a special galaxy cluster! ... See MoreSee Less
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The Dark Energy Survey added 8 new photos.
7 days ago
We’ve now come to the end of the #DESendofnights posts, and on behalf of the DES outreach team I’d like to thank you all for the interest you’ve shown in the best memories of our observers. Today is a big day for DES, and whilst we’re all very sad that there won’t be anymore observing runs, we are also excited by the challenge of analysing the huge amount of data that we’ve gathered over the last 6 years. This is not the last you’ll see of us, so keep an eye on this page to keep up to date with the fantastic cosmological results we’ll be publishing over the next few years! #GoodnightDES ... See MoreSee Less
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The Dark Energy Survey added 2 new photos.
7 days ago
My first trip in 2016 was exciting. The mountain lost power on my first day there. The outage went several hours and was made worse because a second outage was needed to repair a problematic switch. So my first two nights observing were spent waiting for power and a functioning telescope. On the third night we discovered that the hexapod was not working properly - the problem was a consequence of the previous two power outages. We spent a few hours on the Skype talking with Alister, who was in the UK. I think we took the blurriest image in the history of the DECam.

In general the things I'll remember most fondly are the very kind people who keep CTIO running - from the chefs in the kitchen to the folks in the administration building to the outstanding Tel-Ops. I always felt like a welcome guest. I'll remember the Saturday tour groups (see image) who make the observers feel like pop-stars by posing for selfies, etc. I'll miss the delicious meals that were made with care and were every bit as good as the vista from the dining room (see image).

I very much enjoyed working with Nikolay Kuropatikin, Brian Nord and Brian Yanny to make produce the large DES images that were featured in the Fermilab Art gallery. I had three great trips with Ann, Allyn, Dillon (2016), Brian Yanny & Mandeep (2017) and Nikolay and Larissa (2018); I learned a lot from all of my fellow observers. I appreciated the conversations with Tom and Brenna about the aims and goals of the survey and the opportunity to be a small part of it.

And I look forward to the great results yet to come!
Submitted by Marty Murphy #DESendofnights ... See MoreSee Less
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Dark Energy May Be Incompatible With String Theory

August 9, 2018 12:00 am

Since 1998, telescope observations have indicated that the cosmos is expanding ever-so-slightly faster all the time, implying that the vacuum of empty space must be infused with a dose of gravitationally repulsive “dark energy.” In addition, it looks like the amount of dark energy infused in empty space stays constant over time (as best anyone can tell). But the new conjecture asserts that the vacuum energy of the universe must be decreasing. Paul Steinhardt, a cosmologist at Princeton University and one of Vafa’s co-authors, said that over the next few years, “all eyes should be on” measurements by the Dark Energy Survey, WFIRST and Euclid telescopes of whether the density of dark energy is changing. “If you find it’s not consistent with quintessence,” Steinhardt said, “it means either the swampland idea is wrong, or string theory is wrong, or both are wrong or — something’s wrong.”

The dark-energy deniers

June 19, 2018 12:00 am

Make no mistake, dark energy – be it the cosmological constant or quintessence – is the leading theory with plenty of observational evidence to support it. The alternatives remain highly controversial. Yet those nagging questions just won’t go away. Upcoming surveys will either solidify dark energy theory’s position further, or produce a surprise by pulling the rug out from under it. With the Dark Energy Survey – an international collaboration using a 570-million-pixel camera called DECam on the Blanco 4 m telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile – releasing its first data from a survey of 300 million galaxies, these are exciting times. “What makes this a really fun field to be in is that I don’t know what the next big step will be,” concludes Riess. “We’re just in the middle of our initial reconnaissance, and I don’t think we should be surprised by surprises.”

Simon Samuroff receives URA Thesis Award for Dark Energy Survey image analysis

June 1, 2018 12:00 am

The Dark Energy Survey captures images of galaxies billions of light-years away to help our understanding of the evolution of the cosmos. Assessing these galaxies’ properties, such as their size, shape and distance from each other, is a painstaking process, one that involves not only collecting massive amounts of data, but also correcting for potential miscues that challenge the very act of assessing the data. The Fermilab-led Dark Energy Survey aims to make unprecedented measurements of a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing. Gravity bends light produced by faraway galaxies, so images of galaxies are subtly distorted by the time they reach Earth. The degree of distortion itself can provide information about those galaxies, galaxy clusters and the universe around them. An important step in making accurate measurements of the universe is by successfully isolating these tiny distortions. Simon Samuroff is the recipient of the 2017 URA Thesis Award, presented annually for outstanding work by a graduate student working at or in collaboration with Fermilab. In his thesis, titled “Systematic Biases in Weak Lensing Cosmology with the Dark Energy Survey,” Samuroff built computer simulations to model the shapes of galaxies captured by the Dark Energy Camera, which was built by Fermilab and is located at an observatory on a Chilean mountaintop. He closely compared thousands of the simulations to actual images to determine the amount by which scientists’ initial estimates of these distortions are incorrect. He singled out miscues so the Dark Energy Camera could make improved measurements and be more sensitive to subtle effects of phenomena such as dark matter. “The committee was impressed by both the quality of writing and the magnitude of his study — cataloging millions of galaxies or clusters and taking very small effects into account,” said Fermilab scientist Lenny Spiegel, chair of the URA Thesis Award Committee. “His work is invaluable to scientists studying mysteries regarding astrophysics, which may ultimately point the direction for future progress in particle physics.” One of Samuroff’s major results showed that interactions between the images of neighboring galaxies that overlapped affected scientists’ measurements more severely than they realized. By identifying where and to what degree distortions like this cause inaccuracies, Samuroff helps scientists create a more reliable system of measurement.

KBO could be evidence for a giant planet in the outer solar system

May 31, 2018 12:00 am

The discovery of a distant Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) with an extremely eccentric orbit could be evidence that a giant planet is waiting to be discovered in the outer solar system. KBO BP519 was discovered by scientists analyzing data collected by the Dark Energy Survey, which observes a region far above the orbital plane of most of the solar system’s planets as part of a project to measure acceleration of the universe’s expansion. It orbits the Sun at a tilt of some 54 degrees from the plane of the inner solar system planets’ orbits. Like several other KBOs found in 2016, which all orbit at the same unique angle to the plane of the inner planets, 2015 BP519’s position suggests it is being influenced by the gravitational pull of a much larger object, sometimes referred to as “Planet X” or “Planet Nine,” which may be shepherding it and the other above KBOs into this strange orbit. Since the 2016 discovery of these KBOs orbiting at the same distinct angle, scientists have been searching for a hypothesized large planet influencing their orbits, which could be either a super-Earth or a gas giant. One possibility is 2015 BP519, described as “the most extreme Trans-Neptunian Object discovered to date,” is actually a moon of the large planet, which some astronomers estimate to be ten times as massive as the Earth.

‘Nova Wonders’ Asks ‘What’s the Universe Made Of’ Tonight

May 30, 2018 12:00 am

When gravitational-wave detectors recorded a distant collision of two neutron stars, astronomers around the world got the call and began to search for visible evidence of the crash. A team in Chile from the Dark Energy Survey — as well as other groups — was able to detect the so-called kilonova's light, providing the first-ever observations of both light and gravitational waves from the same cosmic explosion. For the Dark Energy Survey crew, these observations will help gauge the universe's expansion rate, aiding their investigation into the mysterious dark energy pushing the universe apart. "What's the Universe Made Of" digs deep into two cosmic mysteries — dark matter and dark energy — showing how researchers know those entities exist, but also revealing that they are still trying to learn what they're made of and how they work.

© 2019 The Dark Energy Survey