DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

This image of over one billion galaxies took six years to make

Feb 27, 2023 by Dunja Djudjic Leave a Comment

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Looking at a starry sky, or even just a photo of it, is one of my favorite feelings in the world. Scientists have just released a very special “starry sky” photo, the largest, most detailed of its kind.

This is the largest 2D map of the sky ever made. It took six years and an enormous amount of data to complete it. And no wonder – it covers nearly half of the sky and shows more than one billion galaxies!

This remarkable map is the tenth data release from the DOE’s Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Legacy Imaging Survey. With this addition, , the Legacy Surveys have been expanded to over 20,000 square degrees.

The map shows 14,000 square degrees of the sky visible from the northern hemisphere. All the data were collected using a total of three telescopes at NSF’s NOIRLab’s Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) and Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile. As I mentioned, it took six years to complete this ambitious task. It resulted in a whopping one petabyte of data and 100 million CPU hours to complete it! And it’s not just any computer, it’s one of the world’s most powerful computers at the US National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center.

Like all maps of this kind, it should help astronomers study and better understand the structure of dark matter, dark energy, and the universe in general. “Though all galaxies shine brightly, many are cloaked in dust while others are so distant that to observers on Earth they appear as little more than faint smudges,” Alfredo Zenteno of NSF’s NOIRLab writes in a statement. This is why it’s important to create comprehensive maps like this one.

“One of the main purposes of this map is to identify roughly 40 million target galaxies for the five-year DESI Spectroscopic Survey, which is aimed at understanding dark energy by precisely mapping the expansion history of the Universe over the last 12 billion years. The DESI project has selected its targets and the spectroscopic survey is currently underway. However, the team is looking to create the most comprehensive map of the sky that they can, so more images and improved processing have been added to the Legacy Surveys to include data that were previously missing.”

[via Digital Trends; image credits: DESI Legacy Imaging Survey/KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA; Image processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab, Jen Miller, M. Zamani & D. de Martin (NSF’s NOIRLab)]

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

ESO Used A Galaxy-Sized Magnifying Glass To Capture Two Galaxies Collide 7 Billion Years Ago Hubble’s latest photos show six “dead” galaxies formed shortly after the big bang Hubble captures stunning photo of two galaxies “dancing” 360TB Disc that lasts 13.8 Billion years. Is this the future of data storage?

Filed Under: news Tagged With: Astrophotography, space photography

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.net

About Dunja Djudjic

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

« Nikon to finally let you pick shutter sound on your Z9
This dystopian VR app lets you step into your memories »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Learn photography

Recent Posts

  • Samyang adds 100mm T2.3 to its compact autofocus cine prime lineup
  • Build your own DIY night vision camera with a Raspberry Pi
  • This adorable LEGO retro camera set hits the stores soon
  • Here are the cameras that shot Flickr’s best images
  • Meta AI image generator Imagine gets its own website

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy