New result draws on 30 years of research and development and begins the definitive search for axion particles Forty years ago, scientists theorized a new kind of low-mass particle that could solve one of the enduring mysteries of nature: what dark matter is made of. Now a new chapter in the search for that particle… More »
A press release on the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) was issued by the DESI collaboration. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermilab is a member of the collaboration, bringing expertise gained during the design, building and operation of the Dark Energy Camera to this next-generation instrument. Fermilab scientists are managing key elements of the construction, including the heavy… More »
Also announces discovery of eleven stellar streams, evidence of small galaxies being eaten by the Milky Way At a special session held during the American Astronomical Society meeting in Washington, D.C., scientists on the Dark Energy Survey (DES) announced today the public release of their first three years of data. This first major release of… More »
The world will soon be celebrating the hunt for the universe’s most elusive matter in a series of Dark Matter Day (www.darkmatterday.com) events planned in over a dozen countries. The events, planned on and around the formally recognized day on Oct. 31, 2017, will engage the public in discussions about dark matter, which together with… More »
Scientists using the Dark Energy Camera have captured images of the aftermath of a neutron star collision, the source of LIGO/Virgo’s most recent gravitational wave detection A team of scientists using the Dark Energy Camera (DECam), the primary observing tool of the Dark Energy Survey, was among the first to observe the fiery aftermath… More »
New result rivals precision of cosmic microwave background measurements, supports view that dark matter and dark energy make up most of the cosmos Imagine planting a single seed and, with great precision, being able to predict the exact height of the tree that grows from it. Now imagine traveling to the future and snapping… More »
The PICO-60 detector was originally called “COUPP-60,” with COUPP standing for “Chicagoland Observatory for Underground Particle Physics.” It was designed and built by Fermilab in collaboration with the University of Chicago and Indiana University, South Bend. Work began at Fermilab in 2005, and, after extensive testing, the detector was moved to SNOLAB in 2012. “We’ve been… More »
“Art of Darkness,” a new show featuring images from the Dark Energy Camera, runs through April 29, with an artists’ reception planned for March 18 from 5-7 p.m. Imagine being able to see 8 billion light-years into space. Imagine feeling like you are near enough to another galaxy to count its spiral arms or close… More »
New dwarf galaxy candidates could mean our sky is more crowded than we thought Scientists on the Dark Energy Survey, using one of the world’s most powerful digital cameras, have discovered eight more faint celestial objects hovering near our Milky Way galaxy. Signs indicate that they, like the objects found by the same team earlier this year, are… More »
Analysis will help scientists understand the role that dark matter plays in galaxy formation Scientists on the Dark Energy Survey have released the first in a series of dark matter maps of the cosmos. These maps, created with one of the world’s most powerful digital cameras, are the largest contiguous maps created at this level of detail… More »
