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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

The first results from a 5-year survey of millions of galaxies have been released [bbc.com]:

Researchers have released the most accurate map ever produced of the dark matter in our Universe. The team surveyed more than 26 million galaxies in the largest study of its kind. The map will help scientists understand what dark matter is made from and learn more about another mysterious phenomenon called dark energy.

[...] The survey involves taking pictures of 26 million galaxies across a large expanse of the sky using the Blanco telescope in Chile. To do this, the research team had to build one of the most sensitive cameras ever built. The 570-megapixel camera is capable of detecting light from galaxies that are eight billion light-years away. By studying the way in which the light was distorted by the intervening dark matter, researchers were able to calculate its distribution. And by studying the way in which the distribution changes over time they can calculate the way in which dark energy acts on it.

Papers here [darkenergysurvey.org].

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