Is dark energy changing over time? A new survey suggests it could be

By Georgina Torbet April 5, 2024

New results from a survey into dark energy show a look back 11 billion years into the past, revealing the locations of tens of thousands of galaxies in the largest ever 3D map of the universe. The results from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument Survey, or DESI, were released this week and show how the universe has expanded over billions of years.

The results so far are shown in a 3D map covering 600,000 galaxies, though incredibly this data is just 0.1% of the total volume of the full survey. The results have been plotted to show how galaxies appear to be moving away from us as the universe expands, with light that has traveled the furthest represented in red, referring to the most distant galaxies, and nearer galaxies represented in blue.

A slice of the 3D map of galaxies collected in the first year of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Survey. Earth is at the tip, with the furthest galaxies plotted at distances of 11 billion light-years. Each point represents one galaxy. This version of the DESI map includes 600,000 galaxies — less than 0.1% of the survey's full volume. — A slice of the 3D map of galaxies collected in the first year of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Survey. Earth is at the tip, with the furthest galaxies plotted at distances of 11 billion light-years. Each point represents one galaxy. This version of the DESI map includes 600,000 galaxies — less than 0.1% of the survey’s full volume. DESI Collaboration/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/R. Proctor

There is also a zoomable version of the map which lets you see the thousands of individual points of light, each of which represents a galaxy.

Recommended Videos

The DESI team has set a new standard for studies of large-scale structure in the Universe,” said Pat McCarthy, Director of NOIRLab, in a statement. “These first-year data are only the beginning of DESI’s quest to unravel the expansion history of the Universe and they hint at the extraordinary science to come.”

Studying the locations of galaxies helps to understand how the universe has expanded through its lifetime, which is driven by dark energy. The expansion of the universe is known to be accelerating over time — faster than seems possible given the conditions of the universe as we know them — and dark energy is the hypothetical force driving this expansion.

“This project is addressing some of the biggest questions in astronomy, like the nature of the mysterious dark energy that drives the expansion of the Universe,” says Chris Davis, NSF program director for NOIRLab. “The exceptional and continuing results yielded by the NSF Mayall telescope with DOE DESI will undoubtedly drive cosmology research for many years to come.”

The results from the first year of DESI data are particularly intriguing because they suggest that dark energy could change over time. Though the data is too new to say for certain, it appears that dark energy may not be constant but could become stronger or weaker over long periods of time.

“We’re incredibly proud of the data, which have produced world-leading cosmology results,” said Michael Levi, DESI director and LBNL scientist. “So far we’re seeing basic agreement with our best model of the Universe, but we’re also seeing some potentially interesting differences that could indicate dark energy is evolving with time.”

Topics

Tech News

Georgina Torbet

Space Writer

Georgina has been the space writer at Digital Trends space writer for six years, covering human space exploration, planetary…

Space

Image of darkness and light shows new stars being born in Lupus 3 nebula

The two young, low-mass proto-stars HR 5999 and HR 6000 illuminate nearby dust, creating the reflection nebula Bernes 149. These stars grew out of the dusty dark cloud of Lupus 3, part of a larger complex of as many as nine dark clouds.

A gorgeous new image of a nebular 500 light-years away gives a peek into the process of star formation.

This image from the Dark Energy Camera shows both the dark cloud of Lupus 3 and the shining bright young stars of the nebula Bernes 149. The dark cloud here is essential to the star formation process, as it is a collection of gas and dust which provides the building blocks for new stars to be born. Known as a dark nebula because of its density, Lupus 3 obscures the light of the stars behind it, giving the impression of a swath of black across the starry sky.

Space

Two of Uranus’ moons could host oceans, new research suggests

An artist’s impression of Uranus and its five largest moons (innermost to outermost) Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon.

When it comes to searching for habitable locations in our solar system and beyond, one of the key requirements for life as we know it is the presence of liquid water. Whether that's a liquid water ocean on the planet's surface like we have here on Earth, or an ocean beneath a thick, icy crust, which is thought to be found on some of Jupiter's icy moons, this is the first and most important indicator of potential habitability.

So it's exciting to learn that two of Uranus' moons may also host oceans. Though it is rarely studied because it is located so far from the sun, Uranus is known to host 27 moons, as well as rings, though all these moons are small at less than half the size of our moon. Researchers looked through almost 40-year-old data from the NASA Voyager 2 mission, which passed Uranus in 1985, to learn more about the energetic particles and magnetic fields around the planet.

Space

Roman Space Telescope will survey the sky 1,000 times faster than Hubble

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

Since its launch in 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope has been delighting space fans with its stunning views of space objects near and far. But NASA has another space telescope in the works that will be able to help answer even more of the big questions in astronomy. The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, set to launch in 2027 and colloquially known as Roman, will look at vast areas of space to help cosmologists understand the universe on a large scale.

In astronomy research, it's important to be able to look both in very great detail and on a very wide scale. Telescopes like Hubble and James Webb have exceptional sensitivity, so they can look at extremely distant objects. Roman will be different, aiming to get a broad view of the sky. The image below illustrates the differences between the telescopes, showing what Roman and Hubble can capture in one go and comparing Hubble's detailed, but narrow view to Roman's much wider view.