Space

Biggest Cosmic Map Reveals Universe's Greatest Mystery

Michael Finn
First Posted: Jul 18, 2016 06:50 AM EDT

A cosmic map, branded the biggest three dimensional map created by international team of astronomers, will be used to map distant galaxies to help understand the greatest mystery of the universe.

Dr. Florian Beutler, lead scientist at the University of Portsmouth's Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, spent over a decade collecting measurements of galaxies as part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III, or SDSS III.  The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey, or BOSS, is in charge of carrying out the new measurements and is a program of the SDSS III.

The biggest 3D cosmic map revealed by BOSS enables astronomers to measure the expansion rate of the universe and determine the amount of matter and energy the universe is composed of. It will also allow scientists to make precise measurements to date of dark energy, which is the force that drives the accelerated expansion of the universe. This map will allow scientists to understand what the role of dark matter is in the expansion of the universe.

Dr. Beutler said that the Cosmic map that they have put extreme effort on how extremely detailed and three dimensional it is, University of Portsmouth News reported. The University of Portsmouth collaborated with other institutions for the past ten years to help gather measurements of galaxies that make up quarter of the sky.

The BOSS measures the expansion of the universe by determining the baryonic acoustic oscillations, or BAO size in a 3-D distribution of galaxies. Through the equipment, it was revealed that there is a distinct characteristic of galaxy movement, which is towards areas in the universe with more matter; this was due to the law of gravity.

The biggest 3D cosmic map gives scientists a whole new way of discovering what the space has to offer and what it has offered throughout time, Cosmos reported. The SDSS III was provided by the Alfred P Sloan foundation in participation with the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Energy. 

See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone

More on SCIENCEwr