The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, or DESI, studies the sky to learn about dark energy. Dark energy is a strange force speeding up the universe’s growth. DESI looks at millions of objects like stars, galaxies, and quasars. Quasars are super bright objects far away, powered by huge black holes.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Berkeley Lab runs DESI. DESI shared a giant dataset called Data Release 1, or DR1. Anyone can use it. This dataset holds details on 18.7 million objects. It includes 4 million stars, 13.1 million galaxies, and 1.6 million quasars.

DESI’s main goal is understanding dark energy. However, DR1 can help scientists explore other topics too. They might study how galaxies and black holes change over time. They could also look at dark matter, a hidden substance affecting gravity, or map our galaxy, the Milky Way. In a Berkeley Lab press release, DESI scientists say DR1 hints at rethinking our ideas about the universe.

A massive look at the cosmos

DR1 comes from data collected between May 2021 and June 2022. It also includes test data from before. The dataset is huge, with 270 terabytes of information. DR1 shows objects near us and far away, up to 11 billion light-years.

DESI uses 5,000 tiny fiber-optic eyes to catch light from objects to map the universe in 3D. It grabs data fast, sometimes over 100,000 galaxies in one night. DR1 has more distant objects than all past 3D surveys combined. In its first year, DESI outdid older projects like the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Researchers already made the biggest 3D universe map with DR1.

People can explore DR1 online for free. The National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center stores it. Supercomputers there process the data quickly. Space lovers can also check an interactive sky browser. DR1 is just the start. DESI aims to study over 50 million objects by its end.

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