Dark Energy Camera Snaps First Images Ahead of Survey

Dark Energy Camera Snaps First Images Ahead of Survey

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The highest-resolution camera ever built has begun its quest to pin down the mysterious stuff that makes up nearly three-quarters of our Universe. The Dark Energy Survey’s 570-million-pixel camera will scan some 300 million galaxies in the coming five years. The goal is to discover the nature of dark energy, which is theorized to be responsible for the ever-faster expansion of the Universe.

Its first image, taken 12 September, focused on the Fornax galaxy cluster. In time, along with its massive haul of individual galaxies, it will study 100,000 galaxy clusters – the largest stable structures we know of – and 4,000 supernovae, the bright dying throes of stars.