New map of the universe charts out 1.2 million galaxiesJuly 16, 2016 - 10:25 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - After spending a decade measuring the stars, scientists just released a 3D map spanning 1.2 million galaxies. But it also measures the universe's expansion over time, giving credence to the theory that dark energy played a role in its increasing size, Engadget said. Hundreds of scientists from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), a program from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III that measures the expansion of the universe over time, collaborated to make the map. The full one spans 650 cubic billion light-years, which is about a quarter of the sky. The posted image, however, is only a slice of it, covering 1/20th of the sky and ranging only 6 billion light-years wide. Color indicates distance from Earth, with yellow dots representing the nearest galaxies and purple the farthest away (grey dots are regions that weren't surveyed). Inside are 48,741 galaxies, about 3 percent of the full dataset, meaning they observed 1,624,700 in total. BOSS tracked the universe's increasing size by tracking pressure waves that emanated out from the Big Bang and froze as matter solidified 400,000 years later. The researchers tracked galactic movement from 7 billion years ago until 2 billion years ago, which supports dark energy's and dark matter's roles in the universe's growth. Measuring the distribution of galaxies across time reveals how much both elements competed to increase its outward expansion in the time period they tracked. "If dark energy has been driving the expansion of the Universe over that time, our maps tell us that it is evolving very slowly if at all: the change is at most 20% over the past seven billion years," said Florian Beutler of University of Portsmouth, who contributed two of the papers that the scientists submitted to the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society this week. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Government reveals details from Pashinyan’s meeting in border village Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has met with a group of residents of a border village in Armenia’s northern Tavush province Narek Manasyan wins European Boxing Championships silver for Armenia Armenia’s Narek Manasyan (92kg) won Armenia’s second silver medal at the European Boxing Championships 2024 on April 28. Blinken urges Azerbaijan to continue negotiations with Armenia Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken has urged Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to continue negotiations with Armenia. Pashinyan, Blinken talk Armenia-U.S. ties over the phone Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a phone conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on April 28, Pashinyan’s office reports. |