cosmology

The Dark Energy Camera mounted on the 4-meter Blanco telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. The final day of data-taking for the Dark Energy Survey is Jan. 9.

After scanning in depth about a quarter of the southern skies for six years and cataloguing hundreds of millions of distant galaxies, the Dark Energy Survey will finish taking data on Jan. 9. DES scientists recorded data from more than 300 million distant galaxies. More than 400 scientists from over 25 institutions around the world have been involved in the project, hosted by Fermilab. The collaboration has already produced about 200 academic papers, with more to come.

Gravitational lenses

Predicted by Einstein and discovered in 1979, gravitational lensing helps astrophysicists understand the evolving shape of the universe.