DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys releases largest 2-D map of universe
Astronomers just dropped the biggest-ever 2-D map of our universe, featuring nearly four billion stars, galaxies, and other cosmic wonders.
Built by the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys team, this massive project stitched together data from over 263,000 telescope shots taken across 13 years, covering about three-quarters of the sky in stunning detail.
DESI mapped over 47 million objects
This map is a big step toward building a full 3-D model of the universe.
DESI measures the spectra of galaxies and quasars and uses redshifts to calculate distances.
As of April 2026, DESI had already mapped out more than 47 million galaxies and quasars, far surpassing its original targets.
The data is fueling research on galaxy evolution, and it could help train artificial intelligence systems to analyze the enormous volumes of data expected from next-generation observatories.