Astronomers have announced the most precise termination on the expansion of the universe and dark energy yet . This feat was potential by using Sloan Digital Sky Survey , an automated organization , which has collected data on 1.2 million galaxies .
C of scientists from all over the world collaborated to create the with child - ever three - dimensional mathematical function of the creation , looking at beetleweed between 2 and 7 billion light - years off .
" We have spent a decade collecting measurements of 1.2 million coltsfoot over one - quartern of the sky to map out the structure of the universe over a volume of 650 cubic billion light - age , " said Jeremy Tinker of New York University , a co - leader of the scientific squad that lead this effort , in astatement .
" This map has allowed us to make the best measurements yet of the essence of dingy energy in the expansion of the universe . We are making our results and map available to the world . "
The project is name BOSS – Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey(excellent acronym study here ) – and it uses how galaxies are distributed in the universe to forecast the sizing of baryonic acoustic oscillations .
These oscillations were imprint by pressure wave ( like sound , hence the " acoustical " ) in the matter distribution of the universe when it was 400,000 light - years old , at which point they froze , creating slight overdensities and underdensities of galaxies across space .
" If we were to scale the book of our sketch to a cube 1 mile on each side , then the seeable part of an single coltsfoot would be about 1 mm across , " explained Rita Tojeiro of the University of St. Andrews , the other Colorado - leader of the BOSS galaxy bunch working radical .
" Our challenge in the analysis of this map was tantamount to measuring the distance between all the pair of galaxies separated by 100 pace throughout a cubic mile of distance ! "
By having such elaborate map of such a enceinte number of wandflower , the team was able to make a unique ruler to measure how the universe expansion rate has changed over time . The latest idea put the expansion rate to 67.3 kilometers per second per Megaparsec , which is well in arrangement with the standard cosmological role model . Thirteen newspaper detailing the new discoveries have beenreleased online .
The function has also revealed that the large structures in the macrocosm move as predicted by general relativity , affirm the idea that dark push is mysterious but real , rather than our gravitational theories being unseasonable .
This is a subdivision of the three - dimensional map construct by BOSS . The rectangle on the far left shows a cutout of 1000 sq . stage in the sky containing nigh 120,000 galaxies , or roughly 10 % of the total survey . Jeremy Tinker and the SDSS - III collaboration .
