Astronomers made the first of a series of maps of the distribution of dark matter in the Universe

International Project Dark Energy Survey , united to study the nature of dark energy astronomers, опубликовал First of the upcoming series of maps of distribution of dark matter throughout the universe. The main objective of the project - to clarify the process of galaxy formation and how it is influenced by dark matter.

In August 2013 astrophysical 23 organizations around the world have begun to draft observation of the sky, as a result of which the scientists will get a detailed description of the distribution of dark matter. The project uses a special digital camera Dark Energy Camera - this is one of the largest digital cameras, its resolution is 570 megapixels. It works on the basis of 4-meter telescope, located in Chile.

In the two years since the beginning of the study, astronomers have received 130 million photos, which were then processed using supercomputers. Leading astronomer Sarah Bridle compares the volume of calculations carried out with 500 regular desktop computers running continuously for two weeks.

Since dark matter interacts with ordinary matter only through gravity, it is impossible to see. On its presence can only be judged by the effect of gravitational lensing, which distorts coming to us from distant galaxies light. It is a distortion of the image and treated with scientists.

"We measured the subtle distortion of the image of more than 2 million galaxies to create these cards, - says Vikram guilt, under whose guidance the study goes. - It is a measure both high precision camera, and that hard work that our team has spent processing these data ».

The data obtained so far confirm the theory: if the dark matter in the universe is greater than usual, and the formation of galaxies should occur around clusters of dark matter. In fact, these clusters are just in places where galaxies were formed and the whole galaxy clusters.

Source: geektimes.ru/post/249022/