(Newser)
– Do you want to escape? Now you can see how far “really” is. Based on 20 years of research, scientists have created a 3D map of the universe that spans 11 billion years and covers more than 2 million quasars and galaxies, while shedding light on a couple of cosmological mysteries along the way, reports CNN. “We know the ancient history of the universe and its recent history of expansion quite well, but there is a problematic gap in the middle of 11 billion years,” study leader Kyle Dawson of the University of Utah said in a statement. “For five years, we have worked to fill that gap.” Enter the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, an international group of scientists who collect data about the universe from various tools and telescopes. The key to this was his “redshift” measurement.
That’s the light process from distant galaxies that spreads across the universe and shifts to the red end of the spectrum as it progresses, making the light sources on the map appear bluer when closer to Earth. , according to LiveScience. By observing more galaxies and quasars than ever before, scientists measured their redshift and velocities and concluded that the expansion of the universe increased approximately 6 billion years ago. Why? Due to dark energy, it remains a mystery. Check out Forbes for more on baseball on the map, like his controversial conclusion about the rate of expansion of the universe (68.2 km / s / Mpc, in case you’re wondering). The SDSS “is not close to fulfilling its mission to map the universe,” the group says, adding that it is “building the hardware” to make “new discoveries for the next 20 years.” (Read more astrophysics stories).
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