A new three-dimensional map of the universe may provide astronomers with the necessary data to finally understand the mysterious relationship between dark matter and dark energy.

 

According to scientists, a map released by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III) is the largest data map of galaxies and distant black holes ever created. The project could allow scientists to understand just how and why dark matter and dark energy make up 96 percent of the universe.

 

The survey covers three times more area than the previous universe map, and scientists are far from finished. Ultimately, they want to survey a quarter of the sky — three times more than the current map covers. 

 

The data map is said to include images of 200 million galaxies, and more detailed information about wavelengths of light given off by 1.35 million galaxies.

 

“We want to map the largest volume of the universe yet, and to use that map to understand how the expansion of the universe is accelerating,” said Daniel Eisenstein (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), the director of SDSS-III.

 

It remains unclear whether the map will usher in a new age of astronomy. 

 

With the creation of such a map, scientists now have the ability to retrace the history of the universe over the last six billion years. 

 

With that information, astronomer now have a better chance at estimating how much of the universe is made up of dark matter — matter that we cannot directly see because it does not emit or absorb light — and dark energy, the even more mysterious force that drives the accelerating expansion of the universe.

 

“Dark matter and dark energy are two of the greatest mysteries of our time,” said David Schlegel of Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, the principal investigator of BOSS. “We hope that our new map of the universe can help someone solve the mystery.”

 

The team noted that the map contains enough information and data to keep astronomers engaged for quite a while. The new data, “Data Release 9 (DR9), which publically releases the data from the first two years of this six-year project, begins expansion of this earlier image into a full three-dimensional map.

 

(Source: The Petri Dish)