Astronomy enthusiasts might wonder why a camera called the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) would be used to image a single spiral galaxy. DECam has in fact already finished its main job, as the instrument was used to complete the Dark Energy Survey, which ran from 2013 to 2019. Like many people, rather than enjoying a quiet retirement, DECam is remaining occupied….
Tag: Dark Energy Survey
Precision measurements of intracluster light suggest possible link to dark matter
A combination of observational data and sophisticated computer simulations have yielded advances in a field of astrophysics that has languished for half a century. The Dark Energy Survey, which is hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, has published a burst of new results on what’s called intracluster light, or ICL, a faint type of light found…
Shining a new light on dark energy
The Dark Energy Survey has released a massive, public collection of astronomical data and calibrated images from six years of work. Containing data on nearly 700 million astronomical objects, this second data release in the Survey’s seven-year history is the topic of sessions today and tomorrow at the 237th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-01-dark-energy.html…
Dark Energy Survey detects thousands of low-surface-brightness galaxies
An international team of astronomers has identified nearly 21,000 low-surface-brightness galaxies (LSBGs) in the Dark Energy Survey (DES). The detection of such a huge sample could be essential to improving our knowledge about how LSBGs form and evolve. The finding is reported in a paper published June 8 on arXiv.org. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-06-dark-energy-survey-thousands-low-surface-brightness.html…
Why these astronomers now doubt there’s a Planet Nine
In the search for the hypothetical 9th planet in our solar system, these scientists may have uncovered another explanation for the patterns in the orbits of Kuiper Belt objects. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/astronomer-doubt-planet-nine-9…
Astronomers announce 100 new minor planets beyond Neptune
They’re called trans-Neptunian objects, or TNOs. Astronomers analyzed data from the Dark Energy Survey – which just completed 6 years of observations – to find over 100 new little worlds in the cold outer reaches of our solar system. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/100-new-minor-planets-beyond-neptune…