The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), based at the Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona recently published this largest and most detailed map of the universe based on captured data from over 47 million galaxies and quasars.
DESI has mapped more than 47 million galaxies and quasars, creating the largest high-resolution 3D map of our Universe to date (April 2026). Earth is at the centre of the wedges, and every dot is a galaxy.
And, here is an expanded view.
Looking at the images, the universe feels impossibly massive. Yet, modern cosmology hints at a mind-bending truth: if you add up everything in the cosmos, the total energy of the universe is exactly zero. The universe isn’t a grand presence built from a massive influx of energy; it might just be the ultimate “free lunch.”
You can explore how the physics of “nothing” allows everything we see to be in one of two ways:
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