**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

Raw JSON

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  "id": "c4a6674a192690daaa3f8ecd3f58afaf09c2239d47463c14274fb958a118c6fd",
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  "content": "**Astronomy Picture of the Day**\n\n23 April 2026\n\n**Large Scale Structure of the Universe**\n\nhttps://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2604/noirlab2610c_1024.jpg\n\nImage Credit: Claire Lamman, DESI collaboration, Cecilia Chirenti, NASA, GSFC, CRESST II\n\nExplanation:  \n\nThis is a map of the universe.\n\nThe Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) at Kitt Peak National Observatory, Arizona, has finished its five-year survey.\n\nIt observed more than 47 million galaxies and quasars and created a 3D map centered on the Earth.\n\nToday's featured image shows a thin slice of these data: the black gaps indicate where  our Galaxy obscures distant objects.\n\nThe feathery web in the inset shows the large scale structure of the universe.\n\nLight of the most distant galaxies shown here travelled for 11 billion years to reach the Earth.\n\nGalaxies cluster throughout cosmic history under the competing influences of gravity and dark energy, responsible for the accelerated expansion of the universe.\n\nAnalysis of early DESI results hinted at the possibility that dark energy, described as a cosmological constant by Albert Einstein, may not be constant after all.\n\nBut we still have to wait for the analysis of the now complete dataset.\n\nThe nature of dark energy is the biggest mystery of cosmology.\n\n#APOD #LargeScaleStructure #Universe #CosmicWeb #DESI #DarkEnergy\n\nhttps://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260423.html\n",
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