Sloan digital sky survey maps distant universe in 3D
Sky survey maps distant universe in 3D
20:06 2 May 2011
Caitlin Stier, contributor
The largest-ever 3D atlas of the universe has been made, and the technique used to produce it could help shed light on dark energy, the mysterious entity that is accelerating the expansion of space.
Past surveys have relied on galaxies to map the universe (bright dots in the image's central region). Now cosmic cartographers have probed even greater distances - to about 11 billion light years away - using intergalactic gas clouds (pictured along the perimeter in blue). The gas clouds are detectable because they absorb light from even more distant objects called quasars, blazing beacons powered by supermassive black holes that are devouring surrounding matter.
The new map pinpoints the location of gas clouds backlit by 14,000 quasars studied by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. It was unveiled on Sunday at the American Physical Society meeting in Anaheim, California, by Anže Slosar of Brookhaven National Lab in New York.
Making similar maps with larger numbers of quasars will sharpen astronomers' picture of how the large-scale structure of the universe has changed throughout its history. That will help reveal how dark energy has affected this structure, which in turn could help resolve whether dark energy is an inherent property of empty space (a cosmological constant) or a changing energy field.
Original Source
20:06 2 May 2011
Caitlin Stier, contributor
The largest-ever 3D atlas of the universe has been made, and the technique used to produce it could help shed light on dark energy, the mysterious entity that is accelerating the expansion of space.
Past surveys have relied on galaxies to map the universe (bright dots in the image's central region). Now cosmic cartographers have probed even greater distances - to about 11 billion light years away - using intergalactic gas clouds (pictured along the perimeter in blue). The gas clouds are detectable because they absorb light from even more distant objects called quasars, blazing beacons powered by supermassive black holes that are devouring surrounding matter.
The new map pinpoints the location of gas clouds backlit by 14,000 quasars studied by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. It was unveiled on Sunday at the American Physical Society meeting in Anaheim, California, by Anže Slosar of Brookhaven National Lab in New York.
Making similar maps with larger numbers of quasars will sharpen astronomers' picture of how the large-scale structure of the universe has changed throughout its history. That will help reveal how dark energy has affected this structure, which in turn could help resolve whether dark energy is an inherent property of empty space (a cosmological constant) or a changing energy field.
Original Source