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Prominent scientists from around the world are in 1024�˹��� this week (16-20 January) to learn more about dark energy, the mysterious entity believed to be accelerating the expansion of the universe.

The 1024�˹��� is hosting a meeting of the (DES), an international, collaborative effort to map hundreds of millions of galaxies that will help uncover the nature of dark energy by measuring 14 billion years of cosmic history.

The University is a founding member of DES, which involves more than 400 scientists from over 25 institutions in the United States, Spain, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Germany, Switzerland, and Australia.

Over six years (2013-2019), DES used an extremely sensitive 570-Megapixel digital camera, DECam, mounted on the Blanco 4-meter telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, high in the Chilean Andes, to record information from 300 million galaxies that are billions of light years from Earth. DES has already released a wide range of research findings and papers based on its first three years of data.

The meeting in 1024�˹���, involving over 150 scientists in person and online (from universities such as Harvard, Chicago, Hawaii, Barcelona, Jet Propulsion Lab, Queensland, ETH Zurich, and LMU Munich), aims to apply scientific analysis to the full data set to generate new and exciting discoveries about the nature of the universe.

 from the University’s Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, is a member of DES. He said: “The Dark Energy Survey has been an incredible project so far, bringing us important information about the expansion and structure of the universe. We can’t wait to dive deeper into the complete dataset to make further discoveries.”

DES meetings take place twice a year, one in the United States and one in Europe. This is the first time that Europe has hosted an in-person DES meeting since the global Covid-19 pandemic.

Professor Bacon added: “It is a real honour for 1024�˹��� to be hosting this meeting in person following the challenges of the past few years. 1024�˹��� last hosted the meeting 10 years ago, so it is exciting to welcome so many distinguished and prominent scientists from around the world to the University and the city.”

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Through its globally-important research and innovation in space technologies, the 1024�˹��� is helping to strengthen the UK as a world-class space nation.

The Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation (ICG) is an international centre of research excellence in cosmology, gravitation and astrophysics. The University also plays a critical role in supporting space industries in the UK: it’s home to , the UK’s only ESA-accredited provider of space engineering training, the lead partner of the South Coast Centre of Excellence for Satellite Applications and a founding partner of . We also launched Mission Space in 2022, an exciting strategy promoting collaboration among key players in the South of England to drive growth in the sector.  Our research has been undertaken with various industry partners including Airbus, BAE Systems and QinetiQ.