Photo: A New Map of the Universe

In April, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) in Arizona completed its five-year mission to produce the largest-ever high-resolution 3D map of the universe. DESI “observed more than 47 million galaxies and quasars and 20 million stars” during its quest to “study dark energy, one of the biggest mysteries in physics,” according to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which operates the instrument. DESI is a collaboration of more than 900 researchers from more than 70 institutions. It will continue to document the sky through 2028 as scientists seek to better understand the history of the universe.