Scientists create largest 2D map of the universe with 5.6 trillion pixels and nearly 4 billion cosmic objects

Space.com reports that astronomers have released the largest two-dimensional map of the universe ever created, capturing nearly four billion celestial objects across three-quarters of the sky. The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument Legacy Imaging Surveys constructed this portrait using five point six trillion pixels, combining over two hundred sixty-three thousand telescope exposures collected over more than a decade. The culmination of thirteen years of work, the map spans visible and near-infrared wavelengths and serves as the foundation for DESI's three-dimensional survey of galaxies and quasars. By measuring their redshifts—how much their light has been stretched as the universe expanded—scientists are tracing cosmic expansion over billions of years and investigating dark energy, the mysterious force thought to drive that expansion. The map has already become central to astronomy research, referenced in over eighteen hundred scientific papers, and will help astronomers search for rare objects, study galaxy evolution, and train artificial intelligence systems for next-generation observatories.

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