Camera 'Terror' hunts dark energy

The Fermilab Labs' dark energy camera captured the first photos of the test run before launching the Dark Energy Survey in December.

The latest attempt to hunt for dark energy has kicked off, with the giant camera mounted on top of a mountain in Chile. This is also the most powerful astronomical camera ever built.

One of the first shots of DECam, the galaxy
Spiral NGC 1365 is 60 million light-years from Earth

The Dark Energy Survey Collaboration, the 570-megapixel (DECam) dark-energy camera operator, has released millions of photographs that allow the astronomers to study the mysterious forces driving. the evolution of the universe.

"It works just like any other digital camera, just bigger, more responsive, and placed on the top of a large telescope," said Josh Frieman , astronomer at the University of Chicago. Dark Energy Survey.

In the next five years, the camera will be placed on the Blanco telescope at the top of the mountain in the Chilean Atacama desert, which is less exposed to artificial light, responsible for taking photos of at least 300 million galaxies. .

DECam , made in Fermilab, is sensitive enough to detect light emanating from objects 8 billion light years away, and can shoot up to 100,000 galaxies at once.

After classifying the galaxy based on age, shape, and distance to Earth, astronomers will grasp the data needed to explain why galaxies coil and collide, as well as How the universe is expanding.