Overview
- DESI finished its planned survey after logging redshifts for more than 47 million galaxies and quasars, beating its 34 million target.
- The map spans about 14,000 square degrees and reaches 11 billion years into the past, a sample nearly ten times larger than prior spectroscopic maps.
- The team is processing the trove now, with first full-survey dark-energy findings expected in 2027 and observing continuing through 2028 to expand coverage to roughly 17,000 square degrees.
- Earlier three-year results hinted that dark energy may be changing over time, and the complete dataset will check whether that hint stands.
- Mounted on Kitt Peak’s Mayall 4-meter telescope, DESI uses 5,000 robot-guided fibers to collect and split light from thousands of targets at once to measure their distances in 3D.