DES in the News

The latest measurements reported by the Dark Energy Survey collaboration benefit from specialized light-sensitive detectors, called charge-coupled devices or CCDs, that were designed and developed by researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) for the Dark Energy Camera (DECam). The Berkeley Lab-designed CCDs (a sample is pictured above) have enhanced sensitivity to long-wavelength light, which has enabled the Dark Energy Survey to make its precision map of the cosmos.

Scientists from University of Portsmouth have helped to create the most accurate map of the structure of dark matter in the Universe, supporting the theory that dark energy and dark matter make up most of the Universe.

For the first time, scientists from the international Dark Energy Survey (DES) collaboration, including Dr David Bacon from the University’s Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation (ICG), can see the structure of the current Universe with the same clarity that they can see the Universe at its very beginning – and therefore can answer many questions about how it evolved. Professor Bob Nichol, Director of the ICG and long-time DES collaborator, added: “These results come after a decade of dedicated effort from scientists around the world including here at the ICG. Even though these DES measurements clearly show we live in a Universe dominated by lots of dark stuff; its origin remains a huge mystery to science.”

What is our universe made of, and has its composition changed over time? Scientists have new insights about these fundamental questions, thanks to an international collaboration of more than 400 scientists called the Dark Energy Survey (DES). Three scientists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, are part of this group that is helping to further our understanding of the structure of the universe.

The advances in astrophysics from DES are crucial to preparations for two upcoming space missions that will probe similar questions about the nature of the universe: ESA’s Euclid mission (which has significant NASA participation) and NASA’s Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope mission, both expected to launch in the 2020s.

University of Queensland researchers have joined an international team of more than 400 scientists from 26 institutions to create the most accurate measurement ever made of dark matter structure in the universe. UQ School of Mathematics and Physics Cosmologist Professor Tamara Davis said the Dark Energy Survey showed a stunning map of the distribution of dark matter. “The survey supports the view that dark matter and dark energy make up most of the cosmos,” she said. “We have been working with the international team for the past five years, so it is thrilling to see that work come to fruition with these first major results. “This is the largest guide to spotting dark matter in the cosmos ever drawn, it goes to show what you can achieve when researchers come together to work on fundamental problems.” UQ PhD student Samuel Hinton, who wrote scientific software used in the analysis, said that until now the most precise cosmological measurements were those inferred from observations of the early universe as it was almost 14 billion years ago. The Dark Energy Survey represents the first time scientists have achieved similar precision on the amount and “clumpiness” of dark matter in the present-day. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory scientist Professor Scott Dodelson said the result was beyond exciting.

The Dark Energy Survey, a collaboration of over 400 scientists from seven countries, unveiled the largest map of dark matter and energy in the universe resulting from the first year of the project’s five-year observation. DES scientists expressed that the new map is not only more accurate with its less than 5 percent error bar, but it is also consistent with the early measurements and models derived from the European Space Agency’s Planck satellite. To gather the data that led to the amazing map, DES scientists mounted a 570-megapixel camera called DECam on the 4-meter Victor M. Blanco Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile.

This was the largest study, the scientists collected data on 26 million galaxies. According to the Professor at University College London Ofer Lahav, the card will allow you to build more assumptions about the Universe. “Dark matter and dark energy — perhaps one of the biggest mysteries in the world of science. And they aroused great interest in science because it a good shake. And, actually, we still don’t know what it is,” said the scientist.

The scientists unveiled the dark matter map in a presentation at the American Physical Society Division of Particles and Fields meeting at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.

These measurements of the amount and “clumpiness” (or distribution) of dark matter in the present-day cosmos were made with a precision that, for the first time, rivals that of inferences from the early universe by the European Space Agency’s orbiting Planck observatory.

At last the Dark Energy Survey has produced its first cosmological results.

Responda rápido, de uma maneira geral, do que é feito o universo? Estrelas, planetas, gás, cometas, asteroides e galáxias. Certo?
Certo, mas apenas 5% certo.
Tudo o que foi citado corresponde ao que chamamos de matéria bariônica, ou seja, basicamente tudo o que é constituído por matéria formada por prótons, elétrons e nêutrons. Isso inclui eu, você e os microorganismos extraterrestres que iremos descobrir em breve.
E os outros 95%?