The Dark Energy Survey (DES) will probe the origin of the accelerating universe and help uncover the nature of dark energy by measuring the 14-billion-year history of cosmic expansion with high precision. A 570M-pix camera, the DECam, is being built for this project and comprehensive tests were successfully accomplished at Fermilab’s telescope simulator (pictured above). As we countdown to DECam’s first light, workload and excitement increase among our collaborators. Starting in late 2011 and continuing for five years, DES will survey a large swath of the southern sky out to vast distances in order to provide new clues to this most fundamental of questions.
– Marcelle Santos