A team of astronomers has developed the largest three-dimensional map of the observable universe to date by cataloging the locations of nearly 1.3 million quasars.
Quasars, extraordinarily bright cores of ancient galaxies powered by supermassive black holes, allow scientists to trace the expanding structure of the cosmos across billions of years.
The international team, led by Kate Storey-Fisher of the Donostia International Physics Center in Spain, utilized data from the European Space Agency’s Gaia satellite to identify and measure quasars across wide regions of the sky.
While Gaia’s primary goal is mapping the Milky Way, its comprehensive scanning of the heavens serendipitously detected quasars and other extragalactic objects beyond our galaxy.
Combining Gaia’s detections with additional observations from NASA’s Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the researchers were able to distinguish quasars from stars and galaxies, determine their distances, and correct for regions obscured by dust.
The resulting catalog contains approximately 1.3 million quasars, the most distant of which shone over 12 billion years ago when the universe was less than 20% of its current age.
According to lead researcher David Hogg of the Flatiron Institute and New York University, this unprecedentedly large volume of the observable universe has now been mapped in three dimensions.
The team’s exquisite quasar groupings allow insights into primordial matter clustering equally precise to some specialized cosmological projects, despite relying on Gaia’s unanticipated finds.
Scientists are already using the catalog to study early density fluctuations, cosmic voids and filaments, and our sun’s motion through space. Kate Storey-Fisher notes the catalog is stimulating a wealth of new astrophysical discoveries, from primordial structure growth to dark matter halo distributions. Additionally, comparing quasar positions to the ancient cosmic microwave background enables testing theories of early universe expansion.
This exemplifies the scientific dividends of ambitious astronomical endeavors like Gaia, designed for stellar astrophysics but also elucidating cosmology.
Sources
New York University | Kate Storey-Fisher, David W. Hogg, et al., Quaia, the Gaia-unWISE Quasar Catalog: An All-sky Spectroscopic Quasar Sample. The Astrophysical Journal, DOI 10.3847/1538-4357/ad1328
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